6 MARCH 1936, Page 3

The congestion of business is becoming really intolerable in this

session. -Hardly a day passes when the eleven o'clock rule is not suspended, and important measures are passed at a time when Members have one eye on the clauses of the Bill and the other on the clock to sec if they are missing their last train. To any criticism of the time-table, the Prime Minister replies that it is all due to the Government's generosity in not withholding from Private Members their opportunities for raising their own discussions. But the Private Members' days are not a privilege but a right. The Government should have -foreseen the pressure on public business and sum- moned the House to meet earlier than February 4th. A seven weeks' holiday at Christmas is not worth the price of these wearisome night sittings.