Yesterday week, Mr. W. H. Smith, who has been the
very incarnation of reasonableness in relation to the Procedure reso- lutions, promised to consider how to word the Closure so as to prevent its being used in Supply to exclude separate debate on really separate items of any one vote; and after this concession, Mr. Parnell's proposal to exempt Committee of Supply from liability to the Closure was rejected by 261 votes to 92. After- wards, Mr. Sexton's motion to exempt the Procedure debate from the operation of the Closure after the resolution sanc- tioning the Closure has been carried, was rejected by 210 votes to 78. Mr. Parnell's cynically obstructive amendment, pro- posing that the Closure should never be applied till the matter in debate had in the House been discussed for six hours, or in Committee for one hour. was negatived by 268 votes to 82. And after an evening wasted on these proposals, the Procedure debate was adjourned to Tuesday, the Supplementary Estimates being taken on Monday.
