The attendance at several debates during the last fortnight has
been extremely poor, a fact to which some of the news- papers have very rightly called attention. There are far too many members, especially on the Government side, who only trouble to attend on great occasions, and who take practically no part in the day-to-day work of the House. The condemnations in the Press, however, are unnecessarily sweeping. There is no reason why the more diligent Members should be tarred with the same brush as the defaulters. Division records of individual M.P.s are easily available in Fleet Street. Why do not the critics pillory the habitual absentees by printing at the end of each session the names of those members who have been present at, say, less than twenty-five per cent. of the divisions. For them there can be no excuse except prolonged illness or, in time of war, active service. It is, however, only fair to state that the work of the ordinary back-benchers outside the chamber has greatly increased since the war began. Many Members find that their correspondence has been multiplied by four or five. In particular, they have been overwhelmed with letters from soldiers' relations and dependants who have failed to obtain the allowances they believe to be due.
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