THE OFFICE OF SPEAKER.
THE Committee on the office of Speaker, which which will no doubt be appointed on the suggestion of Mr. Ellice, ought to take into consideration the whole subject of the conduct of business in the House of Commons, at least so far as it relates to the Speakerahip and the incidence of jurisdiction. The questions arising from the last imperfect handling of the subject show the inconvenience re- sulting from a partial treatment. The Speaker is not immortal ; he is liable to the infirmities of our nature, and the House adopted a measure to allow a deputy to sit in the place of the Speaker. Two new Members arrive in the House, take the oaths at the table, and their seats, but not " with the Speaker in the chair," as the act in such cases requires ; and lawyers entertain doubts whether the Members have so far complied with the sot of Parliament as to be exempt from the penalties to which they would he liable if they did not take the oaths in due form. That they did all that was really intended, there can be' no doubt ; that every judge would construe them exactly to have obeyed the act of Parliament, it world be dangerous to presume ; and a new act of Parliament is needed to shield them. Here we have one inconvenience resulting from the addition of a new law to the statute-book, which was so constructed as to attain one par- tial object, but at the seine time to open another question: a se- cond act might close that question and open two more, unless it were framed with a comprehensive regard to the bearing of legis- lation on the whole subject. It is desirable to take security that we shall not manufacture the necessity for acts of Parliament more rapidly, by a geometrical ratio, than we can multiply the acts themselves.
There are classes of subjects which ought to require no statute at all. Every act that relates to the conduct of the Commons, and is bounded by the four walls of the House, might surely be left to the House itself; and perhaps the taking of the oaths at the table belongs to that class. This consideration would supersede the necessity of any separate statutory enactment. Another distinction would probably be attended by much practical economy of time. Are there any functions performed by the Speaker which cannot safely be intrusted to a subordinate P If not, a new bill might declare that all acts to be performed by the Speaker should be considered as accomplished if attested by the presence or signature of the Deputy-Speaker. If there are such functions, the declaration might still be included in the bill, but with a recital of exceptional cases in which the Deputy- Speaker should not act for the Speaker. In such cases, probably the administration of oaths would be covered by the general clause, while the issue of writs under the Speaker's warrant for a new election would come under the exceptions. Attention to a few simple rules of that kind might save much length in any new bill, and many more embarrassments that might arise from an imperfect handling of the subject.
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