23 DECEMBER 1949, Page 16

The Speakership

Sta.—Janus suggests that it would be worth while devising some better arrangement about the Speakership. At present there is no constitutional ruling that this office must be filled for the life-time of a member chosen with the common consent of the House, but this appears to be the case generally. Would it. therefore. not be more appropriate that, once the House has chosen the Speaker from among its members, this office should by constitutional law be his for a life-time, without the added burden of party allegiance and constituency ties? The constituency he has repre- sented would in turn be asked to choose a new member, and in conse- quence would fall in line with every other constituency. With the election of a new member in his room, the Speaker would no longer, there- fore, represent a " live" constituency, but he could continue to be an individual member of the House by the creation of a separate room, in much the same way as the Chiltern Hundreds is an office " created" for

a particular purpose.—Yours faithfully, D. RAKER LACE. /6 Woodland Hill, Upper Norwood, S.E.19.