The Quaint Side of Parliament. breathless in the nick of time saves the situaation. Without him there would have been only thirty-nine members present, and the Speaker would have left the chair. A speech can be interrupted at any mo ment, if there are not forty members present, by a motion to count the House. This leads occasionally to an amusing if not very edify ing spectacle. Say it is a " private member's night"— that is, a night given over to the discussion of notices of motion. The gov ernment docs not trouble about "keeping a House " on such a night. In fact, it is often their interest to have an awkward and trouble some motion by a private member quietly suppressed by a count-out. It therefore altogether depends on the interest of the motion on the paper, or on the popularity of the member in whose name it stands, whether or not a quorum is retained within the pre cincts of the House. But it invariably hap pens in the case of a motion of doubtful interest or importance, that a count is de manded by one of its opponents, perhaps just as the mover has begun his speech, but certainly after he has concluded. Immedi ately all the enemies of the motion clear out into the lobby, and try to persuade those who have turned up in reply to the summons of the bells to remain outside with them, in stead of going into the chamber to help to "make the House." They crowd round the portals of the chamber, eagerly watching the Speaker, as he slowly — oh, with what exas perating slowness! — counts the members 'present. " One, two, . . . thirty-nine." With a cry of " Order! Order! " the Speaker has disappeared, to the great delight of the group in the lobby, the bitter vexation of spirit of the honorable gentleman in charge of the motion, and the utter bewilderment of the strangers in the galleries. The visitors on such a night are indeed deserving of commiseration. They had come to see the great House of Commons at work, and, lo! just after the Speaker resumed possession of the chair at nine o'clock, and the curtain was
rung up, the play was most inexplicably ended, and a moment afterwards they found themselves puzzled and disconsolate in Palace Yard. If the House is in committee when a count is called and a quorum is not made up, an adjournment does not thereupon take place. The House can only be adjourned with the Speaker in the chair. The Speaker is, there fore, sent for, and the state of affairs having been reported to him by the chairman, he counts again. If forty members are not then present the adjournment takes place, but if a sufficient number of members to form a quorum have meantime arrived, the proceed ings in committee are resumed. The only occasion on which the Speaker can leave the chair without a motion to that effect being carried, is when a count has taken place. After midnight, when the " Or ders of the Day" are gone through, a formal motion for the adjournment of the House is made by a minister. Until this is done the Speaker must remain in the chair. The same rule also applies in the House of Lords. On one occasion the minister in charge of the House forgot to make the usual motion, and left the Chamber with the other peers. But the lord chancellor could not follow their example. He had to remain on the woolsack while one of the doorkeepers went to bring back a peer to make the motion which would set his lordship free. "Strangers will withdraw." This direc tion is always given by the Speaker when a division is challenged or a count moved. But all the same, strangers do not nowadays withdraw from the chamber. They still re main in the galleries above, and look down with interest on the progress of a division, or the strange proceedings which attend a count. Formerly, however, the chamber was entirely cleared of strangers during a count or a division.' That custom originated in the days before the division lobbies were introduced, when the members were counted in the House (the numbers only being re
