but the first two lines of the stanza were often in

my

memory during long debates. "Bellamy" was the refreshment contractor, before the House had organized its own refreshment department.

Before Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman's alteration in the hours was adopted I used to sit daily from 2.30 p.m. until 7.30 p.m. without a break-five hours at a stretchand again from 9 p.m. to midnight, or until such time as the House rose. After the change, the House met at 2.45 and the sitting continued till 11.30 p.m. and often later, but the tea interval and an hour or so for dinner afforded much relief.

One of the disadvantages of the Speakership is the sense of absence of freedom, which the daily sittings for long hours imposes: the feeling that there is no escape, that you are cabined, cribbed, confined; that, unless very exceptional circumstances should arise, you must be either in the Chair or immediately available in case of your presence being required.

Up to the year 1855, if the Speaker happened to be ill, the House could not sit, as no person was authorized to take the Chair, and it became necessary, in the event of his prolonged illness, for a temporary Speaker to be formally appointed, who resigned his position on the convalescence of the original Speaker; but by an Act of Parliament of that year it was enacted that the Chairman of Ways and Means should be empowered to sit and act as Deputy Speaker when so requested.

On the other hand, when the House has been adjourned in the autumn or prorogued, the vacation is a real vacation; there is no work during the recess; you are again a free man. In this matter the Speaker has an advantage over a Cabinet Minister, who can seldom enjoy a real holiday. The only duty which ever falls to

the lot of a Speaker during the recess is to issue an occasional writ for the election of a new Member in the case of death, elevation to the Peerage or acceptance of office. This matter involves some little care in seeing that the necessary formalities have been complied with, but is neither a frequent nor a lengthy process.

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It is well known that our Constitution provides no method whereby a Member can resign his seat. The situation is circumvented by the acceptance of an office of profit under the Crown," which by an old Act of Parliament disqualifies a Member from sitting and compels the issue of a new writ; and by custom the stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds or of the Manor of Northstead are held to be offices of profit, although as a matter of fact no profit attaches to either; but as the writ grants the office "together with all wages, fees, allowances, etc.," this is sufficient to convert the sinecure into a technical" office of profit."

A rather curious discovery was made by Sir C. P. Ilbert during my tenure of the Speakership. It was customary to describe the Chiltern Hundreds as being the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Bonenham, but Sir C. P. Ilbert, who resided in the neighbourhood of that district, was doubtful about the exact locality of the last named place, and on investigation it appeared that there was no such hundred or place, and that what was evidently intended was Burnham. At some time or other there must have been a slip made in copying the form, which resulted in the error having crept in; but having once crept in, it had persisted for many years, until I authorized an amendment, restoring the writ to its proper form.

Amongst the extraneous duties which the Speaker is sometimes called upon to perform is the interpretation of

points of order arising in the Legislatures of the Dominions. They present an additional difficulty, as the custom or unwritten law of these legislatures is not present to his mind, and, in the absence of this information, it is not always easy to visualize the exact position. It is, however, a tribute to the Speaker's great position that the Overseas Parliamentary authorities should seek his judgment in these matters.

It would be possible to enumerate at considerable length the many and multifarious duties of the Speaker, but enough has been said to give an idea of the important and responsible position which he holds, which may be described in one concluding sentence, viz. that he is the guardian of the privileges of the House as well as those of its Members.

CHAPTER XIX

1906-1907

The New Parliament-Changes in Arrangements-Harcourt's Innovations -Lord Goschen-General Botha-D.C.L. Degree at Oxford.

1906

The Unionist Government having resigned in December of the previous year, and Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman having formed his Ministry, the long-delayed General Election took place in January. My return for Mid-Cumberland was unopposed.

On the 13th of January, the day of nomination, the Cumberland Hounds met at Hutton John, and in order, that I might join in the sport, as well as put in an appearance at the nomination, I had to attend the latter in hunting costume. My proposer, Mr. H. Riley, and I, attired in pink, attended the High Sheriff, handed in the nomination papers, waited the prescribed time, heard the declaration of my election and then hurried off to join the hounds.

The House met on the 13th of February, and I was unanimously elected Speaker, being proposed by my old Cumberland colleague and friend, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and seconded by Mr. C. Stuart Wortley. In thanking Sir Wilfrid for his kindly references to myself, I said that although there might be some doubt as to whether he was or was not technically the "Father," we should all be agreed that he was the grandfather of the House.

One of my first duties was to appoint the Speaker's

VOL. II.

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Chaplain, and here a slight hitch occurred. When I was first elected, in the previous year, I had written a diplomatic letter to the Chaplain, asking him to continue in the office, which he then held, until the conclusion of the Parliament, intending to replace Canon Wilberforce, with whom I had not an intimate or even a close acquaintance, by a dignitary of the Church with whom I was well acquainted and who happened to be also admirably suited for the position. When, however, I intimated this desire to Canon Wilberforce, he resented it strongly and induced the Prime Minister to intervene on his behalf. Being naturally anxious to start the new Parliament on good terms with the Prime Minister, I did not feel that the matter was one which I could press very strongly, and I yielded to his representations. The Prime Minister pointed out that the claims of the Canon to a deanery were strong and that in all probability a deanery would fall vacant before the lapse of many months, and that whilst he (the Prime Minister) could give no promise, I could rest assured that the Chaplain's claims to preferment in the Church would not be overlooked. I accordingly appointed Canon Wilberforce. The sequel to this story was, that although on two occasions a deanery was offered to him, once by Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman and once by Mr. Asquith (to whom I had confided what had taken place) the Canon declined the proffered preferment and remained on as Chaplain of the House and Archdeacon of Westminster until his death in 1915. He was a son of Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford and Winchester fame, an ardent teetotaller, in his youth a keen sportsman and steeplechase rider, an attractive preacher, and the holder of some strange views as to the future life. Towards the end of his life he suffered much from