THE CLOTURE.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 4015, 10 November 1881, Page 2

THE CLOTURE.

The cloture has been engaging the attention of the English Parliament, and the result is a State paper, embodying 1 reports from her Majesty's representatives in various countries dealing with the various modes of repressing . undue loquacity employed in foreign deliberative assemblies. In France the President consults the House as to whether a debate should be closed or not. Only one speaker is beard in opposition, and the question is then decided by vote. In Germany any member can propose the cessation of discussion, and if 30 members sup* port him. the President at onca takes a vote upon the proposition without any debate at ,all. In Italy the same practice prevails, though one speaker is heard against the cloture. In the Netherlands five members must support the motion for its introduction, and it is then discussed and voted upon in one chamber, or voted upon without discussion in the other. In democratic countries, such as Switzerland and the United States, the flow of talk is liable to be jerked just as speedily. In the former country the cloture is used as in France, while in America the majority can carry a, motion for " the previous question " at any moment, and thus bring any debate peremptorily to a conclusion. In Austria the President of either House may propose to close a debate at any time, and n simple majority decides the point. Only one speaker from each side is beard after this. In Hungary, instead orUhe oloture, there is a power in the hands of the President to keep members to the point, and even stop a speech that is persistently verbose. Both in Belgium and in Den* mark the cloture is employed—in the first country upon the demand of a small number of members, and in the latter at the instance of the President. In Sweden and Norway alone the iodi* vidual member is left entirely unchecked to wander on as our own Parliamentary orators are fond of doing at their own sweet will. In Kbglnud, upon the motion of a Minister of the Crown, a motion to close debate may be put at any time, and if in a House of three hundred members his resolution shall be carried by a majority of 3 to 1, the Speaker becomes absolute, and rules the House as be pleases until the dictatorship entrusted to him is withdrawn. In the Commons, therefore, the despotism of its chief can be es* tablished more absolutely than anywhere else, but special authority of any kind is only entrusted to him under very special conditions. The great fact for colonists to remember is that tha cloture exists in some form or other in nearly every State in the civilized world.