There was a sharp debate on Tuesday as to the
rules to be followed by the Grand Committee on Trade to which the Bankruptcy Bill is to be referred, Mr. Raikes especially desiring to know whether the Chairmen of these Grand Committees are to act like the Chairman of Committees of Ways and Means—that is, to order debate, but not take any part in it— or like the ordinary Chairmen of Select Committees who have " charge " of the Bill referred to them, and try to promote its success. The discussion showed that the House is not anxious to bind down at first these Grand Committees by too strict rules, but that the wish of the Committee of Selection is that the Chair- men of these Committees shall hold aloof from all advocacy, in order the better to command that kind of influence -which the Chairman of Ways and Means holds. This seems to us wise. If the Grand Committees are to succeed at all, they must succeed by copying to some extent the methods of a Committee of the whole House, though they are to be on a more manage- able scale, and are intended to proceed with less parade of rhetoric, and less tendency to party tactics.
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