HARD SWEARING AT WESTMINSTER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 7564, 7 May 1919, Page 7

HARD SWEARING AT WESTMINSTER

WHEN M.P.s TAKE THE OATH

By SIR HENRY LTJCY

I According to the unimpeachable authority of Uncte Toby "our armies swore terribly in Fianders." Next week, the newly elected House of Commons foregathering at Westminster, this historic example will be followed. The swearingin of members will be the principal business of the week. The fact that it is a superfluous ceremony, consecrated by age but serving no practical.end, becomes apparent from the circumstance that members duly elected, and as yet unsworn, forthwith proceed to the important business of electing the Speaicer. When on Tuesday next the new Parliament assembles, the Speaker may be described by the language of Betsy Prig in final bursts of incredulity as to the existence of Mrs. Gamp's incessailtiy quoted friend, Mrs. Harris, "There ain't no sich person." The -sheep at Westminster are for a while shepherdless.

This condition of affairs leads to I quaint manoeuvring. In the. course of a session, if for any reason the Speaker is temporarily absent, the chair is taken by Mr. Deputy Speaker, and business goes fonvard as usual. Obviously there being in existence no Speaker there can be no Deputy. Someone must initiate and conduct the proceedings, and +o the Clerk of the House the task is committed. He does not seat himself in the chair. Heaven forbid the sacrilege. He occupies his accustomed place at *he table, where he is found when presently Back Roc! arrives to summon the Commons to the House of Lords, to hear the Royal Commission declaring the session opened. BLACK ROD'S DAY. Black Rod's carefully ordered procedure on such occasion testifies to the profound consideration devoted to cerelHoniiil minutiae as affecting: the stability of the British Constitution. When throughout the session he arrives upon a' similar mission his demeanour is properly submissive to the majesty of the House. Halting at the Bar he bows low to the Speaker, twice repeating the reverence as he approaches the table on which lies the Mace. There, if amid the tremor of the moment he remembers it, be delivers an invitation to "this honourable House to proceed to the House of Lords." On one occasion, during Mr. Gully's Speakership, Black Rod was so paralysed by the surroundings that when he readied the table he was stricken dumb, and with mouth onen stood glaring at the Speaker. With impregnable presence of mind and unfailing; tact Mr. Gully mastered the situation by remarking that he understood Black Rod was the bearer of a summons to the House of Lords, and leaving the chair led tho procession to the door. On the first meeting of a new Parliament, there be j ing neither Speaker in the chair nor 'Mace on the table, THa^k Rod has the day of his !ife. He stands at the Bar, makes no obeisance, colloquially addresses lion, members as "gentlemen," and having delivered his message walks off, freed from the necessity of retiring backward the full length of the House, a procedure watched with breathless interest by members. THE MAN WHO MT7ST BE DUMB. Then comes the opportunity of the Clerk of the House. With wand in hand he quits his chair, and makes for the door, followed by a group of members. At the Bar of the House of Lords lie stands in, the place occunied by the Speaker on other occasions, and hears the Lord Chancel'or, one of the Commissioners seated on a bench before oho Woolsack, observe that he has it in Land to let you know that as soon as the members of both Houses of Parliament have been sworn the cause of His Majesty's calling this Parliament will be declared. Meanwhile, the Lord Chancellor in the King's name, bids gentlemen of the House of Commons repair to their own House, and there elect some proper person to be their Speaker, returning on the morrow to present such person for His Majesty's approval. Heading the procession on the way back, the C'erk of the House resumes his seat at the table and the business of electing the Speaker is entered upon. Here a difficulty insuperoble at first .sight presents itself. The Clerk is suffered to perform in dumb show the part hitherto played by him. But on pain of untold penalities^ he, not being a person elected by a constituency, may not address the House with spoken word. Accordingly at the proper moment he rises, and with forefinger of the right hand he points to the member deputed to move the election of the Speaker, repeating the digital invitation to the seconder of the motion when his turn comes. Thus when in ordinary parlance we talk of a member "catching the Speaker's eye," we on this solitary occasion in the life of a Parliament observe a couple of members, so to speak, "catching the forefinger" of the Clerk of the House. A TIME-WASTING 1 CEREMONY. The newly-e'ected Speaker having en tho following day presented himself at the Bar of the House of Lords, and with all humility submitted himself for His Majesty's most gracious approbotion, returns to the Commons, and the performance of swearing-in commences. He himself is the first to take the oath administered by the Clerk as he sits in the chair: This done, the Speaker retiring to don the wig and robe pertaining to the high estate in which he has been confirmed, four tables are brought 'n, and set lengthwise below the Mace. Copies of the New Testament and rf the oath of allegiance are placed in sets ot eight on each table. Four members more or less successfully succeed in getting f'micr and thumb on a copy of the Bible, the Clerk recites tho terms of the oath, and they kiss the book in token of assent. Sworn in batches of 32, the monotonous performance daily occupies three, sometimes four, hours of precious time, usually deferring by a week the commencement of the businss for dispatch of v-]iich Parliament is ostensibly j summoned. The ceremony had its origin in troubled times, when allegiance to the Sovereign who happened at the time to be oil tho throne was by no moans tnkpn for granted. To-dnv it i^ an anachronism that miVhfc weV be dispensed with. No one who has watched th» scram M in* nrocess con'd believe that th^ eeromonv hns th« slightest-effect linnn tho condirt of individual membprs. If ono wvva lient on trep°on. tn'"'rir' the nn+h vop'd not sta.v lm hand. If hel be a loyal citizen, why swear? OTHER WAYS OF DOING IT. T I."rxTT- an esteemed member of thp late "Pj-jvlfanipnt —^ r'lr- bo'-s^s wiJl not dra.g from w°. his name —■who'never tool; thf> nnih. He toH mo th nt looking in at ihn "RYn;cp one nft^rnomi on his wav to catch n t'-nin. he found the pmepes of STrearini-in rroing fonvard. J^o hunt? jt>ont wfr't'Tior for opportunity to rreh irs, at ono of ibfl n>Vo«, hut wrs continuously hnffifd. Thr> linirr of trr> donnrtinf t.rnin '/Townrr. r>.r«rilo""slv nonr. he* gave up the attempt, and owing to ab-

sence from town did not renew it;

As is the custom when new members come up after by-election, those desiring to affirm instead of swearing are accommodated accordingly. Talking of the increased toleration of the House "of Commons, Mr. Gladstone told me that on one occasion towards the beginning of his Parliamentary career he, taking the prescribed terms of the oath at one table, observed O'Connell at another taking the oath jealously prepared ior a Roman Catholic.

Congress, whose procedure is based on that of the mother of Parliaments, retains the ceremony of the oath. But members get through it much more rapidly an-j with equal moral effect. Classed under the name of the State returning them, they, at the bidding of the Speaker, assemble in n group before his chair. The clerk reads out the oath. The members assent by holding up their right hand, and march off, making way for the next lot. When I watched the nerformance it was over in less than an hour.