The Week in Parliament Our Parliamentary Correspondent writes : Since
January 19th, when Parliament reassembled after the Christmas adjournment, the House of Commons has been " counted out " on three occasions, all of them Private Members' days. This does not, of course, mean that less than forty M.P.s were present in the building. Not infrequently members are reluctant to vote on the issues raised and prefer to stifle the discussion by the simple expedient of remaining outside the chamber when the count is called. This was obviously the case last Friday when Capt. Balfour introduced his Bill to check the spread of multiple shops in the interests of the small tradesman. Nevertheless, the apparent absence of a quorum, occurring so frequently, does not enhance the prestige of the House of Commons. The public outside only knows that out of 600 members less than forty were in their places. Moreover, next time the Government proposes to appropriate private members' time they will be able to point with great effect to the seeming lack of interest in back-benchers' motions and Bills. It is worth recording that on the last two occasions the count has been called from the Labour benches.
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