ment, involving a direct charge upon the public revenue, will
not be put from the chair; or if it has been agreed to inad-
vertently, it will be cancelled. Nor may any amendment
be made which increases a tax, or repeals an existing exemp-
tion from a tax; but where the committee on the bill have
inserted an exemption from a tax, it has been held to be
regular to strike it out.3 Where it has appeared that a pro-
posed amendment would vary the incidence of taxation, the
Speaker has declined to put the question. But where a

charge has been imposed upon the ratepayers in committee,
an amendment to omit the clause has been held to be regular,
although its omission left other parties, already liable by law,
still chargeable with certain expenses. Where a bill proposed
to relieve the Consolidated Fund of a charge of 20,000., and
an amendment was moved to a Lords' amendment, which
would have had the effect of reducing the extent of that
relief to 18,0007., it was held to be admissible, at that stage."
Where an amendment is proposed by leaving out a clause of
the bill, a question is put, that such clause "stand part of the
bill."
No amendments will be allowed which are inconsis-
tent with the provisions of the bill, as already agreed to by
the house.8

of committee

Upon the consideration of a bill, as amended, the proceed- Proceedings ings of the committee are otherwise open to review. Thus, reviewed on a clause inserted in committee, by mistake, has been struck report. out; and clauses having been introduced, not relevant to the subject-matter of the bill, the bill has been recommitted in respect of those clauses.10

It often becomes necessary to recommit a bill to a com- Bills recommittee of the whole house, and occasionally to a select com

1 112 Com. J. 393. 164 Hans. Deb. 3rd Ser. 173; 191 Ib. 1877; 242 Ib. 1302; 270 Ib. 1834.

2 County Courts Bill, 111 Com. J. 371.

3 Drainage Bill, 1840.

4 123 Com. J. 157; 191 Hans. Deb. 3rd Ser. 1878.

5 Expenses of hustings, 23rd July
1868; 193 Ib. 1688.

6 193 Ib. 1887. 1920.
7113 Com. J. 285. 339.

8 258 Hans. Deb. 3rd Ser. 1597.
1628.

9 109 Ib. 403.

10 119 Ib. 172.

mitted.

Again recommitted.

mittee, before it is read a third time; and a recommitment of the bill is always advisable, when numerous amendments are to be proposed.

A bill may be recommitted: 1. Without limitation, in which case the entire bill is again considered in committee, and reported with "other" or "further" amendments. 2. The bill may be recommitted with respect to particular clauses or amendments only,' or to the clauses in which amendments are proposed to be made, and the preamble. 3. On clauses

or schedules being offered, or intended to be proposed, the bill may be recommitted with respect to these clauses or schedules. In these two latter cases no other parts of the bill are open to consideration. A bill, however, has been recommitted in respect of certain clauses, and of any new clauses relating to the subject-matter of those clauses." 4. The bill may be recommitted, and an instruction given to the committee, that they have power to make some particular or additional provision. If the member who has charge of the bill, and other members also, desire the recommitment of a bill, the former has priority in making the motion for that purpose."

A bill may be recommitted as often as the house thinks fit. It is not uncommon for bills to be again recommitted once or twice, and there are cases in which a bill has been six, and even seven times, through a committee of the whole house, in consequence of repeated recommitments. The proceedings on the report of a recommitted bill are similar to those already explained: the report is received at once, and the bill, as amended, is ordered to be taken into consideration

183 Com. J. 533; 94 Ib. 510; 124
Ib. 282; 126 Ib. 440.

2 Bank Notes Issue Bill, 1865, &c.;
120 Com. J. 304; 125 Ib. 208. 346.
3 92 Ib. 415; 108 Ib. 570; 115 Ib.
293; 116 Ib. 121; 120 Ib. 348; 126
Ib. 289 127 Ib. 427; 132 Ib. 411.
4 179 Hans. Deb. 3rd Ser. 826.
5 128 Com. J. 360.

6 89 Ib. 127; 107 Ib. 294.

7 Bank Notes Issue Bill, 25th May 1865.

8 77 Lords' J. 325. 83 Com. J. 354; 89 Ib. 286; 93 Ib. 605; 94 Ib. 318.

9 65 Ib. 384. 396. 420; 69 Ib. 420. 444. 460.

on a future day. Sometimes, after the house has ordered a bill to be read a third time on a future day, this order is discharged, and the bill recommitted,1 or ordered to be withdrawn; and with a view to the recommitment of a bill, amendments are occasionally moved to the question for reading a bill a third time, that the order for the third reading be discharged, or that the bill be recommitted.3

Select Com

Notwithstanding the facilities for discussion afforded by a Committed to committee of the whole house, the details of a bill may often mittees. be considered more conveniently by a select committee. Indeed, according to the ancient practice, all ordinary bills were committed to select committees, and none but the most important were reserved for the consideration of a committee of the whole house. Every public bill, however, has, for a long period, been considered in committee of the whole house, whether it was also committed to a select committee or not. Sometimes a bill is referred to the same select committee as other bills already committed: or to committees appointed to inquire into or consider other matters: 5 or two or more bills are referred to the same committee." When it has not been determined, until after the second reading, to commit a bill to a select committee, the order, or order of the day, as the case may be, for the committee of the whole house, is read and discharged, and the bill is committed to a select committee; or, when the question is proposed for the house to resolve itself into committee, or for the Speaker leaving the chair, an amendment may be made by leaving out all the words from "That" to the end of the question, and adding, "the bill be committed to a select

1 110 Com. J. 117; 111 Ib. 208; 113 Ib. 318. 339. 384, &c.

2 110 Ib. 419; 112 Ib. 380. 392, &c.

3 112 Ib. 391; 118 Ib. 167. 274. 4 84 Lords' J. 172; 92 Ib. 70. 245; 116 Com. J. 146; 120 Ib. 65; 129 Ib. 151; 133 Ib. 61. 222, &c.

P.

5 103 Ib. 929; 105 Ib. 396; 106 Ib. 243; 111 Ib. 59; 114 Ib. 67; 115 Ib. 87.

6 119 Ib. 165; 120 Ib. 65.

772 Lords' J. 355; 110 Com. J. 143; 111 Ib. 207; 112 Ib. 337; 119 Ib. 256.

PP

Title amended by Select Committee.

Bills reported from Select Committees.

2

committee." In the Lords, a bill is sometimes committed to a private committee of the lords present this day. When it is deemed advisable to take evidence, the necessary powers are given to the committee for that purpose. The committee are not entitled to make such amendments as to constitute a new bill.1

The order of the house concerning the making of relevant amendments in a bill, without an instruction, and amending a title, is, in terms, confined to committees of the whole house: but as the rules of select committees have generally been made, as far as possible, conformable to those of the house itself, and of committees of the whole house, this amended practice has been followed by select committees,5 without any exception having been taken to it, and may be considered as authorized by the usage of the house. And this practice has been extended to the insertion of money clauses, pursuant to resolutions of committees of the whole house, without any special instruction."

When the bill is reported from a select committee, it is recommitted to a committee of the whole house, unless it be first recommitted to the same select committee. If, in addition to reporting the bill, with or without amendments, the committee desire to inform the house of any matters relating to the bill, leave is obtained to make a special report, unless the committee have power to send for persons, papers, and records, in which case it may make a special report, under

1 87 Lords' J. 205. 432; 92 Ib. 646; 109 Com. J. 230; 111 Ib. 337; 119 Ib. 99.

2 66 Lords' J. 150. 583.

3 104 Com. J. 253; 106 Ib. 164.
4 Toll Bridges (River Thames)
Bill, 21 July 1876; 230 Hans. Deb.
3rd Ser. 1679.

5 Pier and Harbour Orders Confir-
mation Bill, 1863; 118 Com. J. 248.
Government Annuities Bill, 1864;
119 Ib. 255. Municipal Corpora-

tions (Borough Funds) Bill, and Wild Fowl Protection Bill, 1872; 127 Ib. 169. 342.

Electric Telegraphs Bill, 1868; 123 Com. J. 350. County Officers and Courts (Ireland) Bill, 1877; 134 Ib. 301. MS. Minutes of Proceedings.

7 106 Com. J. 393; 107 Ib. 199. 8 97 Ib. 446; 98 Ib. 487; 106 Ib. 239.

9 110 Ib. 236; 120 Ib. 386.

the Standing Order of the 9th August 1875. If the select committee should fail to report the bill, the committee may be revived, and the bill recommitted to it.1

a committee

house.

Such had hitherto been the practice in regard to committees Objections to on bills: but in 1882, the revival of an ancient procedure of the whole was introduced. For several years it had become apparent that new conditions of political life had rendered the consideration of every bill in a committee of the whole house, a serious obstacle to the legislative and deliberative efficiency of the House of Commons. Such a committee affords no relief to the house itself; it is not, indeed, a committee in the proper sense: it is not a selected body to whom certain functions are delegated: but is the entire house of six hundred and fifty members, who are at liberty to move amendments to every line of a bill, and to speak any number of times to each amendment. Meanwhile, all the other important business of the legislature is suspended. Nevertheless, so long as a comparatively small number took part in discussing the details of a bill, a committee so constituted was an effective body. No member was excluded from its deliberations: the utmost publicity was given to its proceedings; and its resolutions were generally accepted by the house. But, of late years, discussions in a committee of the whole house have assumed a more intractable character; and the consideration of two or three important bills may occupy the greater part of a session. For example, in 1879, the committee on the Army Discipline and Regulation Bill held twenty-two sittings in 1881, the committee on the Irish Land Bill thirty-nine sittings, and the Prevention of Crime (Ireland) Bill thirty-one sittings. For bills of the first importance, a committee of the whole house may be the most fitting tribunal : but for bills of a secondary and less contentious character, the house, in 1882, resolved upon the experiment of standing committees, more representative than a select committee, and

1 115 Com. J. 373.