procedure so that the consideration of a bill, from the second reading stage until its third reading, proceeds automatically, freed, as far as possible, from opportunities for delay; and in other ways, of which a summary is given, they have done their best to abate loquacity, and to hinder the waste of time.

To such an extent has this process been carried, that the hundreds of years which measure the existence of the House of Commons until the year 1888, did not occasion more changes in the orders and practice of the house, than have been effected during the ten years which have elapsed since the publication of the ninth edition of this book. An attempt to engraft into a treatise framed on the easy-going lines of 1844 the complex procedure of 1893, without some alteration of structure, proved, consequently, of no avail.

To the chapters, in the ninth edition, which treat of the proposal of motions, and amendments, the conduct of bills, or the rules of debate, a chapter has been added on the "method and order in the transaction of business in Parliament," dealing separately with certain customary occurrences in the daily routine of Parliament, which were formerly considered in connection with those matters of practice on which the procedure of the House is founded. Such, for instance, is the custom of putting questions to ministers at the outset of each day's sitting. This practice has reached such a formidable dimension, provoking an almost equally formidable crop of rulings from the Chair, that if treated, following the author's arrangement, as a matter of debate, the pages devoted to questions would largely interrupt the consideration of that subject. . . .

Another chapter is devoted to a subject which hitherto appeared in various portions of the volume, namely, the responsibilities, relations, and procedure of Parliament affecting imperial and national expenditure. A combined consideration of the monetary duties of the Crown and of the Houses of Parliament facilitated the task of the Editor, and, it is hoped, may afford corresponding aid to a possible student. Treatment, separate and yet inclusive, of this important subject is compelled by the requirements of the day, which have converted into a complex system the simple 1 Chapter VIII.

financial procedure of former times. Under these conditions the ancient freedom in the demand of "grievances" before supply is free no longer; whilst an enhanced difficulty has arisen in obtaining the supplies necessary for the service of each year. That difficulty is caused by those varied and renewed applications for money, known as supplementary grants, grants on account, excess grants, and Consolidated Fund Bills, which are an annual necessity. Thus these movements in opposite directions, though apparently inconsequent, are in fact consequential; for as these demands treble the financial labour of each session, it naturally follows that, by way of compensation, restrictions should be imposed on the right of free speech as a preface to the sitting of the committee of supply.

Chapter XXVI., which describes that remarkable and comparatively recent feature in private bill legislation, known as the "Provisional Order system," is an important addition to this treatise. . .

The outbreak of instructions to public bill committees by which the house met the salutary provision, among the standing orders of 1888, whereby the Speaker leaves the chair forthwith whenever the house goes into such a committee, made of instructions a new feature in parliamentary practice. The pages in the edition of 1883 devoted to this subject, have consequently been reshaped. The Appendix also is furnished with a set of classified examples, illustrating the principles which govern the proposal of an instruction, and is enriched by the citation of two of those wise and effective addresses from the Chair by which the Speaker has brought these motions under the control of law and order.

To the Appendix are added the standing orders of the House of Commons, and the sessional orders, accompanied by marginal references to the ancient resolutions on which the sessional orders are based-information of considerable historical importance. Examples also are given, drawn from the journals of the house, for the guidance of those who may desire to amend a proposed amendment.

An attempt has been made to provide future Speakers with a summary of the varied duties which devolve upon them though, as the help the Editor thus seeks to afford

cannot be of use when help is most needed, he regards those pages with but slight satisfaction. A forty years' experience of parliamentary life was not needed to teach him that no epitome of the responsibilities cast upon the Chair of the House, however accurate and concise, can supply much inspiration where with to guide a Speaker in those critical moments thus described in language as impressive, as it is true: "The occasions are frequent, and they occur most unexpectedly, when the Speaker is called upon, unaided and alone, and at once, to decide upon difficult points which may have supreme consequencespoints which require not only accurate knowledge of the forms and procedure of the house, but which demand the greatest courage and firmness to apply those precedents to the exigencies of the moment. . . ."1

As this book is, when caught up from the table of the house to parry an objection, or to perplex an antagonist, expressly a book for rapid reference, it has been sought, by an ever-recurring insertion of marginal and other references, to make the book an index unto itself; and in this endeavour the publishers have joined, with generous readiness, by furnishing pages specially adapted for the purpose. Nor are these marginal signposts and signals. supplied merely to meet the parliamentary occasion. An inherent difficulty besets a treatise which deals not only with the historical aspect of an august, many-sided institution, but with the conditions of its daily life. The rules laid down by practice and the standing orders, and the precepts and injunctions delivered from the Chair, act with such interwoven and varied application, that their results must appear and reappear in various portions of the text, either as an enforcement, or as a modification of the principle then under consideration. Thus it is the editor's duty, by every possible means, to link together the various portions of the book, and to put each page into touch and union with its brother.

Due and grateful recognition must be made of the generous help and hearty co-operation which the Editors have received from those who are specially qualified to offer wise criticism and counsel.

1 Sir Matthew White Ridley, 4th August, 1892, 7 Parl. Deb. 4 s. 7.

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The Speaker most readily gave his careful consideration and attention to such portions of the text as were thankfully submitted to his judgment. Help of a similar kind was rendered by Mr. Milman and Mr. Jenkinson. They generously lent their aid towards the solution of many a difficult point of practice, and revised and improved Chapters VIII. and XXII. If those abstruse matters, the propriety of an "instruction," the application of the closure, and the treatment of an "item" in the committee of supply, are treated treated with due explicitness and accuracy, that happy result is mainly due to them. Mr. Ferguson-Davie, Principal Clerk of the Public Bill Office, willingly devoted his sound judgment, trained by long experience in the financial procedure of Parliament, towards the preparation and completion of Chapter XXII.

Mr. Bull, the Clerk of the Journals, supplied most valuable precedents and suggestions drawn from his intimate knowledge of the history, journals, and procedure of the House of Commons; and the portions of the text dealing with the practice of the House of Lords, and the conduct of their business, have received the able revision of Mr. Malkin and Mr. Harrison. Equally useful care was most kindly bestowed by the Clerk of the Council, Sir Charles Lennox Peel, on the pages which treat of the summons and prorogation of Parliament. Mr. Spring Rice, well equipped for the task by long and intimate acquaintance with the traditions and practice of the Treasury, examined Chapter XXII. with friendly and official solicitude; and Mr. Sydney Parry criticized the passages regarding the Chiltern Hundreds, according to information he had extracted by exhaustive researches among the records of Downing Street. This note of hearty thanks respecting the tenth edition of Books I. and II. would be very imperfect if it closed without an expression of the editor's indebtedness to Mr. S. H. Day, who devoted a lavish amount of time and trouble in rendering that assistance which, as editor of Rogers on Elections, Part II., 16th edition, he was so well qualified to bestow.

The editor of Book III. desires to express his grateful acknowledgments for the valuable help given him by Mr.

Munro, Clerk of Private Bills, House of Lords, and by Mr. Campion, Examiner (Private Bills), Mr. Austen Leigh, and Mr. Webber, Principal Clerks of the Committee and the Private Bill Offices, House of Commons. The editor is also much indebted to gentlemen in the Government Departments, who courteously afforded him important suggestions, based on their official experience, regarding the procedure on Provisional Orders. Nor should the information derived from Mr. Clifford's treatise on Private Bill Legislation fail to receive that recognition which is so fully deserved.

R. F. D. P.