* * The problem of the absentee member is not
a new one. There is, indeed, a statutory duty of attendance, dating from the reign of Richard II. Under Henry VIII it was enacted that any member who returned home before the end of the session without the leave of Mr. Speaker should forfeit his Parliamentary wages. In the last months of Mary's reign the Attorney-General actually proceeded in the King's Bench Division against certain members who had deliberately absented themselves from the House, but with the death of the Queen the proceedings were allowed to lapse. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it frequently hap- pened that the House was " called over." M.P.s who failed to answer to their names were sent for and required to account for their absence. The last " call of the House " took place in 1836, though presumably it is a procedure that could still be invoked. Since then it has been left to the combined pressure of the constituencies and the Party Whips to ensure that members faithfully discharge their legislative duties. Their efforts appear to need some reinforcement.
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