Mr. Chaplin, the Minister of Agriculture, speaking to his constituents
at Osbournby, in the Sleaford Division of Lin- colnshire, on Wednesday, asserted that in the month of July, 20 Members of the House of Commons asked 1,728 questions, and made 1,326 speeches. Giving them 20 minutes each on an average, that would occupy 430 hours out of the 1,000 working hours or so of which a Session consists, and he put it to his audience how Parliament could be con-
ducted effectually under such a system. Well, what is the remedy P Why did not Mr. Chaplin say at once that what we most need is a Parliament one-third, or at worst, one-half the size of the present Parliament, if real deliberation is to go on at all. It is of no use saying where the evil is, if our states- men will not manfully declare the remedy. It is, after all, only in a less degree conscious obstruction,—though that is bad enough,—while it is in a much greater degree the growth of interesting subjects, and of representatives who take a serious interest in those subjects, which embarrasses the House of Commons. Six hundred and seventy educated and experienced men, in our eager and microscopic age, cannot deliberate to any good purpose in any assembly in the world.
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