AT WESTMINSTER
THE fate of Derek Bentley. who was hanged on Wednes- day for his part in the murder of a Croydon policeman, weighed heavily upon the House of Commons this week. The discussion of great issues, such as Sunday observance, which the Commons considered toda' (Friday), and capital punishment can stir the emotions even when it is d:rected to general principles. But to raise the question of capital punish- ment on the day before a man is to be hanged makes fierce demands upon judgement and conscience. " Is the House to wait until Bentley is dead before it is entitled to say he should not die ? " asked Mr. Sydney Silverman on Tuesday. * * * * There were two questions before the House : Was it permis- sible for the House to comment on a decision of the Home Secretary's in a capital case after the decision had been taken but before sentence of death had been executed ? Was it per- missible for the Speaker to prevent the acceptance of a motion solely on the ground that he thought it out of order ? These questions arose because Mr. Silverman tried on Monday to table a motion urging the Home Secretary to reconsider his decision not to advise the exercise of mercy in the Bentley case. The Speaker would not allow the motion to be accepted on the ground that long-established precedent prevented the House from comment between the taking of a decision in a capital case and the execution of sentence. Comment, after- wards;by all means. * * * * This argument was conducted on Tuesday between the -Speaker, Mr. Silverman, Mr. Leslie Hale, Mr. Paget and Mr.
Bevan, with the rest of the House acting at times as a Greek chorus. Neither the Leader of the House nor the Leader of the Opposition took part. The Speaker was rock-like on non- intervention in capital cases until sentence had been executed, and Mr. Bevan agreed that the precedents were strong. But on the second issue Mr. Bevan argued that it would be better for motions to appear on the order paper before being ruled out of order. The risks of the alternative course were put before the House by Mr. Hale in one of his famous lightning sketches. * * * * , The Commons took a passionate interest in their rules of procedure when they were invoked in this way on Tuesday, but had been much cooler last Friday when Mr. Harry Hynd tried to get a select committee appointed to discover whether the House could be run more efficiently. There was not even a majority in favour of allowing a vote to be taken on Mr.
Hynd's motion. * * * * Parliament has not kept to the heights throughout the week. Indeed on Monday Mr. Duncan Sandys refused in his prosaic way to assist in the promotion of inter-planetary travel (though he later revealed an intense interest in guided rockets). And the House of Lords has got its eyes no higher than the Coronation stands. Querulous peers had to be assured on Tuesday that the ballot for seats had not been faked. The Lord Chief Justice of England himself, supervised by the Earl Marshal, drew the lots that secured seats for some peers and exclusion for others. Lord Salisbury said that the ballot was in full harmony with the most fundamental principles which underlay the British constitution. When a Cecil bases a case on the fundamentals of the constitution there is nothing more a peer can say. * * * * The Commons have been nearly as pompous as the Lords at times during the week. Mr. Anthony Greenwood, the Labour Member for Rossendale, complained to the Minister of Works that the carriageway at the eastern end of St. James's Park was in an " undignified condition." Symptoms of the onset of Coronation fever begin to multiply and Parliament is evidently in danger of getting a little out of hand as the crisis draws
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