Punch (62.1872)

February 10, 1872.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

57

HOME RULE.

(A WILD DRAME OF THE FUTURE, BEDAD I) [Committee of the Whole Bouse.

PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCE.

{New Session.)

STANDING ORDERS.

The House of Lords shall meet at five, and adjourn not later
than 5*40 p.m.

Two Peers (exclusive of the Lord Chancellor and the Junior
Bishop) shall form a quorum.

Robes and Coronets are not obligatory, and it shall be optional for
those Peers who are entitled to wear badges of knighthood, to dis-
play their stars and ribbons, or not, as they please. Overcoats,
waterproofs, and comforters ; umbrellas, walking-sticks, and riding-
whips, may be brought into the House, but not breechloaders, fishing-
rods, or cricket-bats. No dogs will be admitted.

Any Peer wishing to go to sleep while the House is sitting may do
so on obtaining the consent of the Lord Chancellor. Leave will
not be given to more than three Peers at a time. Any Peer snoring
will be awakened by the Usher of the Black Bod, and on a repe-
tition of the offence removed by that officer from the House.

Smoking will not be allowed near the Woolsack.

Peers may obtain credit in the Refreshment Rooms to an amount
not exceeding one pound. This privilege will not be extended to
Bankrupt Peers.

Bills sent up by the Lower House will be received with distrust
and suspicion by the Upper House ; and the greater the majority by
which they were passed by the Commons, the greater the opposition
they will encounter from the Lords.

To prevent hasty and unwise legislation, popular measures which
have obtained the prompt and decided assent of the Commons, must
be rejected at least three times before they are passed by the Lords.

Peers under the age of thirty will in future be required to attend
lectures on Modern History, Political Economy, the Laws of England,
Geography, and Elocution, and to pass an examination in these sub-

jects (to be conducted by the Civil Service Commissioners) before
they can be allowed to take their seats.

With the exception of certain Members of the House of Commons,
whose names may be ascertained on application to the Speaker, no
Member shall address the House for more than half an hour.

With the exception of certain Members, a list of whose names may
be obtained from the Clerk at the Table (price sixpence), any
Member may address the House as often as he pleases during the
Session.

No Member shall speak against time, or his own convictions.

No Member shall come down to the House with his mind made up
as to how he shall vote, but he shall listen attentively to the argu-
ments and facts adduced in debate, and be influenced by them and
them alone as to the part he shall take in the Division.

No money shall in future be voted in a House consisting of less
than a hundred Members.

Members presenting Petitions shall be required to make a declara-
tion that they have read them through, that they are grammatically
expressed, and that the signatures appear to be genuine and
respectable.

A Book shall be kept, to be called the " Quotation Book," in which
Members shall enter, at least twenty-four hours beforehand, any
passages from ancient or modern authors which they may wish to
introduce into their speeches ; and no Member shall be permitted to
make any quotation m the House against which a protest has been
recorded, in the above-mentioned Book, under the hands of three or
more Knights of Shires.

Stationery shall be continued to be supplied to Members, but they
are recommended to be careful and economical in its consumption,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Controller of the
Stationery Office having it under consideration to charge each
Member a fixed sessional sum for paper and envelopes, and the use
of ink-stands and blotting-cases.

To facilitate business, the House, on receiving an intimation
through the Speaker that it is the wish of a Member _ that a
speech which he had prepared should be taken as made, will sane-