PARLIAMENTARY HOURS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 16, 19 September 1913, Page 4

PARLIAMENTARY HOURS.

Discussing Parliamentary hours the "Lytteltoh Times" says there are many experienced Parliamentarians who «ill declare that the extraordinary protraction of recent sittings ol the House of Representatives was directly the result of the absurd hours at which the House transacts its business, because it is in the early hours of the morning that members are seen at their worst and when tempers are least under control. The "Times". goes on to remark :Possibly the session would be lengthened by the observance! of sensible hours, but there are scores of courteous ways in which the House can deal with the evil of the loquacious member, and tho member who threatened to delay business by unnecessary talk could soon be taught wisdom. But the whole system wants reorganisation, because the work of Parliament has been steadily expanding and little has been done these twenty years to adjust the methods of ■doing business to the changed conditions. Governments frequently encourage loquacity when it suits them and then complain because members continue loquacious. A smaller House might conceivably work efficient v under the existing rules, but with eighty members all asserting the right to talk oit every subject under the sun at any hour, efficiency is out of the question. Parliament is notoriously unbusinesslike and it appears to growworse year by year. The New Zealand Parliamentary hours wore, of course, based on those of the Mother of Parliaments, but in some respects the methods of the House of Commons, antiquated as they are, compare more' than favourably with those of the Dominion Parliament. For the first four days of the working week the House of Commons Sfts- normally from 2.45 p.m. until 11 p.m., with no regular meal intervals, members eating when the mood takes them. On Fridays the hours are from noon until 5 p.m., the intention being that members shall be able to get away from "Westminster for the week-end. The 11 o'clock rule. however, does not apply to financial business, and later' sittings are common. Necessarily, with so large a body, a great deal of work has to be done by committees, Grand Committees considering the details of minor measures, Private Bill Committees dealing with Bills introduced by private individuals or corporations, and Select Committees relieving the House of the detail work on particular questions. These committees sit in the mornings, and of course tho members who have to serve on them are 'liable to have to work exceedingly long hours. It is notorious, however, that committee work is flagrantly neglected by many members, and committees have to be large so that a quorum may always be available. The whole question is to be taken into consideration now, however, a Select Committee having been set up last session to ascertain "what alterations are desirable in the practice and procedure of the House with regard to public business." It is hoped that the committee will be able to point the way to an escape from the present unsatisfactory, state of affairs.