PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS.—The Brighton Gazette, alluding to the complaints of
Mr. CORBETT and other members, of the difficulty of finding an opportunity to present the petitions which are accumulating in their hands, makes the following remark respecting the new plan of referring the petitions to a Committee for arrangement.
" We believe that the present 1.1;111, or something very like it, was first put forth in the Spectator, which on some subjects has furnished most valuable hints; but in this instance, the result has proved how much easier it is to devise plans, than to reduce them to beneficial practice." We have in another part of the paper published one of the Reports made by the Petition Committee. It will be seen that only a part of our suggestion has been adopted—that of classifyicg the petitions, stating the number of sig- natures to earls, printing the most important, and making periodical reports upon them. But, by the present arrangement, the petitions are presented to the House before they are referred to the Committee. Our object was to save all the unnecessary talking which is so much complained of, by allowing those petitions only to be publicly presented, which the Committee should deem of sufficient importance to be the subject of general discussion. We subjoin the passage from the WORKING OF THE Housx OF COMMONS which relates to the subject in question.
It will be the duty of' the Petition Committee to lay before the House every Mon- day, at its meeting, a report of all petitions received by the Committee from the carious members during the previous week, classified according to their objects, and setting forth, in a tabular form, the date when, the place where, meeting (if any) at which, number of persons by whom, each petition lies been signed ; and, lastly, the member to whose charge the petition has been consigned ; with such remarks as the Committee may see occasion fur. The same Committee to have power to direct what petitions shall be printed at large, and where the importance of the case warrants such a procedure, to return to the member from whom it may have been received, any such petition as seems to require the notice of the House at large, in order that it may be publicly presented."
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