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sought by special motions in every session. Under another alteration made in 1902, four days of the week-namely Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday-were divided into two sittings, not necessarily devoted to the same business; but by a further modification of the standing orders made in 1906, the house has now reverted to a single sitting on these days. A still more salient change has been the passing of the new rule-which was first made as a sessional order in 1896, and has now been embodied in a standing order-regulating the taking of supply. In consequence of this rule the consideration of supply by the House of Commons has been more evenly distributed over the session instead of being left, as formerly, until the concluding days. The working of this rule, and so far as it is within the compass of this book-its effect on the financial arrangements of the country, are dealt with in Chapter XXII.

It is at present too soon to gauge the full effect of this and of the other new rules referred to. In describing them, however, the Editor of Books I. and II. has made every effort to record all the rulings which have been given regarding their application during the comparatively short period that they have been in operation; and he has also preserved every ruling given previous to these alterations which might be considered as still applicable. Similarly, when dealing with such matters as the hours of meeting, he has added footnotes indicating shortly the practice that obtained before the alterations were made.

The extension to members of the House of Commons of the power, already possessed by the

members of the House of Lords, of presenting a bill without an order of the house for its introduction has been noticed in Chapter XIX.; whilst in the same chapter an attempt has been made to amplify the examples of amendments ruled out of order in committee on, and on the consideration of, public bills. Considerations of space have prevented the insertion of as full a description of the working of standing committees as would have been desirable; but the leading decisions of the chairmen of these standing committees in dealing with some of the difficulties in passing bills through the committees have been summarized. A list has also been given of all the joint committees of both houses which have been appointed since the revival, in 1864, of this method of parliamentary inquiry. It is hoped that this list may be of some assistance to those who may seek information with regard to the operations of these committees, as it has been found impossible to devote much more space to them in this edition than was given in the last.

While this edition was passing through the press various changes have been made in the method of taking divisions. These changes are of an experimental character, and the amendments in the standing orders and the alterations in the usage of the house which their permanent adoption would necessitate, have not been made. It has, therefore, been thought better to keep Chapter XVI. in conformity with the existing standing orders, as printed in Appendix I., and to give a short separate summary of the new method of taking divisions in Appendix VI.

The alterations that have taken place since 1893 in regard to private bill legislation, if less salient than those connected with the public business of parliament, are very numerous. It is only necessary, in this connection, to instance the many and very material alterations that have been made in the standing orders, of both houses, relative to private bills-the result, in some cases, of the recommendations of the Select Committee upon Private Business which was appointed by the House of Commons in 1902. The main addition, however, which the Editor of Book III. has made to this portion of the work, is the insertion of a new chapter-Chapter XXXI.-in which he has endeavoured to describe the special system of provisional legislation created, in 1899, by the Private Legislative Procedure (Scotland) Act. In the chapter dealing with ordinary Provisional Orders granted under other Acts (Chapter XXX.), he has brought together the various passages describing the distinctive proceedings in Parliament upon a Provisional Order Bill, which were formerly interwoven with the description of proceedings upon a private bill; and he has placed this chapter after, instead of before, those that deal with private bills, and immediately next to the new chapter on the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act. In other portions of Book III. he has omitted one or two passages that have become obsolete; and a few other passages he has transferred from the main text to the notes, the points with which they deal having now become of relatively minor importance. For the rest, he has not ventured to add to the general

scope of the work by attempting any fuller reference, than was made in the last edition, either to the decisions which private bill committees have given upon particular bills, or to any general policy which they have followed in dealing with bills of a particular kind; but, in re-editing Book III., he has throughout confined his revision of the text, as closely as possible, to what has been rendered necessary by changes of circumstance or by alterations in the practice and standing orders of both houses.

The assistance which the Editors of the last edition received from various quarters in their preparation of that edition, is acknowledged in Sir Reginald Palgrave's preface already alluded to. The Editors of the present edition desire to acknowledge with equal gratitude the assistance which they, too, have received; and in doing so they need hardly add that any errors that are discovered in their edition must be set down solely to themselves. They wish to join in expressing their deepest gratitude to Mr. Speaker, who kindly allowed them to submit various passages to him for his criticism, and to Lord Selby, who placed at their disposal many notes made during his ten years' tenure of the Speakership. They both desire also to acknowledge their great indebtedness to the suggestions and criticisms kindly made by Sir Courtenay Ilbert, the present Clerk of the House of Commons, and to the valuable store of important precedents so carefully collected by his predecessor, the late Sir Archibald Milman.

In addition, the Editor of Books I. and II. desires more particularly to acknowledge very

gratefully the constant and unfailing assistance and encouragement given him by Mr. Nicholson throughout the progress of his work. Mr. Gibbons, the Principal Clerk of the Public Bill Office, has most generously devoted much time to assisting him, more particularly with the chapters on public bills and public money. To Sir Kenneth Muir Mackenzie, K.C., the Clerk of the Crown, he wishes to express his acknowledgments for assistance on points submitted to him; while in connection with Chapter XXII. Mr. Blain gave him the benefit of his long experience at the Treasury. In connection with the practice and procedure of the House of Lords he has to acknowledge the generous help that was given him by Mr. Harrison. To many also of his own colleagues he takes this opportunity of acknowledging his indebtedness for much assistance. The late Sir Reginald Palgrave placed at his disposal all the notes that had been made by him since his publication of the last edition. The assistance which these notes have afforded to the Editor has been enormous, and has brought home to him constantly what he has lost-and what this edition has lost-through Sir Reginald Palgrave's death, depriving him as it did, of the personal help in his work, which had been so kindly and generously offered to him, and of the advice which would have been so constantly sought and ungrudgingly given.

In his share of this edition, the Editor of Book III. has had the kind and continuous assistance of Mr. Bonham-Carter, who edited this portion of the work in the last edition, and whose encouragement and aid and experienced advice have been

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