WHY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IS A FAILURE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12499, 9 May 1906, Page 5

WHY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IS A FAILURE.

» PLACE OF AMUSEMENT, NOT Ol' , BUSINESS.

NOTHING BUT TALK. DELIGHTFUL AS CLUB. HOPELESS AS WORKSHOP.

(J. T. Macpliorson, M.P., in the "Weekly Dispatch.") I have been disappointed many timee in my life, but never so thoroughly as 1 have been since I took my eeat as a member of Parliament. Tho real never approaches the ideal, ■and of notl-ing is this so true as the House of Commons. I thought it a place where men of business might manage the business of tho country in a businesslike way. i have found it a house of talkers, o hotise of formularies, an assembly given over to the observance of worn-ou*. customs. Good* enough for days gone by, but absolutely out of place in a Parliament of a twentieth-century Empire. THE TALKING SHOP. True, I had often been warned that I should bo disappointed. The House had been described to mc over and over again as a mere "talking shop," a place where piffle was spoken by the ton, but never until I got my finst House of Commons headache after three weeks of listening to talk, talk, talk did I realise hoi? really true was all 1 had boen told. The waste of time that goes on makes mc fairly writhe with impatience. Mountains of work to be done, and nobody anxious to do anything but talk about'it. And such talk! Worn out old arguments, thread-bare years ago trotted out as new. Tho same old social aaid economic lies repeated as if they had never boen contradicted and refuted a hundred times already. It makes mo tired. As a machine for getting real solid work done, tho House of Commons is at present an absolute failure. That is not the fault of Parliament itself so muoh as the fact that tho machine has been hitherto tended and served by -amateurs, or men who were manipulating it for their own ends, and unskilfully at that, or by those who looked upon it as a moans of filling up an otherwise idle existence. Once real workmen, trained to their business, well knowing what the machino can do when it is properly handled, get to work upon it, there will bo no more dilly-dallying. It will bo full-speed ahead, no necessity for resting for repairs, and the full output day by day as regularly as clockwork. Those members who declared that their dignity would be lessened if they were a.«ked to receive pay for their Parliamentary labours evidently meant tliat they, had no intention of taking their present duties seriously. For onco they accept the nation's cash, the nation will "see that they do a full hard day's work for it. That apparently is about t/ho last thing they would dream of doing. : To call such men. legislators is a piece of tho purest terminological inexactitude. In the name of common-sense, why ehould the House of Commons not Ik? run on up-to-date, business lines? The House opens at two p.m. The first hour is devoted to questions. Thereafter it ifi at tho mercy of every wordspinner bore in the House, Minister and member alike, till midnight. A time-limit is badly needed for all speeches. And a padded room far every member who persists in talking when he really has nothing to say. As for the work done by tho House, really the average Trade Union Executive could have done more solid work in two days than we have done in the whole of the past month. The first week was confined to ceremony and swearing. The ceremony may 'be picturesque, may even be ancient, but I submit it is valueless, and a complete waste of time. Why cannot the Commons proceed in a business-like manner to the election of their own Speaker, without having to march to the House of LoixJ-s to hear tho lloyal mandate read, and then march back again? Again, why need three or four days bo ua.st«d m swearing , in members, wjien one could do just as well? If through individual swearing the reverence of the act were increased, then by all means continue; but, I submit to Mvcar in the whole Chamber at once would be just as reverent as the hurrying method adopted at tiie present time. ? During our second neck in Parliament we Labour members thought we would get to business, but we forgot for (lie moment, that we are in the "taking shop." For the whole of the week it was nothing but talk, repetition ot arguments, sameness about conclusions, and it all ended as it had begun—in talk. Looking back upon the first fortnight, nothing tangible ha* been sf-en as yet. Last week things became a little more interesting, and on the Naval and Military Lsrimatrß the human side was introduced, with the result that the promipo of substantial concessions was obtained, and latterly, towards the end of the week, practically the unanimous House affirmed the principle that if tho. State enforces education, then it has no right to allow children to take their leesoas without food also— -a, s>U?p in thcnght direction. I note with pleasure that a Select Coi'iiuitfee has bt-t'ii appointed to deal w:!}] priH-t'-cluie, and it is to be hoped "hat tint Committee will bring th'hours of business within reasonable limits, and at the proper times. The day was made for work. To sit till midnijrht way suit some members, but. the Labour nion are workmen, end prefer to do their work during the hour? thai Nature ear-marked for toil. Buei-

ness that cannot bo done by tho light of day had bettor bo loft undone. As a. building, tho Houses are an artistic pile of masonry, magnificent OUtwerdly in architectural design. Aβ a f workshop the Houses of Parliament oonfctituto on« of tho ghastliest architoctarel failures it is possible to find. Onco inside, tlio man accustomed to froo air logins to gasp for broatlu The atmosphere is closo and oppressive. It" is stalo and unprofitable to breathe. Tho lungs pant for n free supply *>F oxygon. It is not there. Then follows si feeling of depression, a sensation like that of being weighed down and overwhelmed by an impondoraDle eomething; and finally tho Houeo headache, with all its wretched accompaniments of nausea and languor. It would bo much better for everybody, better for health, temper, ana progress, if they took the roof of the Chamber off, and let us conduct our business under tho sky and open to every wind that blows. Despite the fact that the Chamber itself is too small to accommodate its 670 members, room can still be found forthose luxurious hiding-places of the indole at—the smoking-rooms. # There the weaknesses of men are specially catered for. Luxurious chairs, comfortable writingtables, newspapers, cigars, and tobacco of the cheapest and dearest kinds, well within the purchasing power of even the poorer members of the House. But, above all, the most amazing feature is the fact that three attendants are constantly employed simply picking up and folding, and putting on to the stand* newspapers, as the members put them down. The dining-rooms afro almost all that could be desired. Aristocrat and working man dino there in comfort* and each within reach of his income. The attendance is very good, but to my jnind a great evil is the tipping system. Surely the House of Commons could afford to pay its attendants decent wages, each, wages as will enable .them to live comfortably, and not leaye them dependent' upon, the doles dine in the House. .'." ■.'*? . "*' Looking round the anung-rooine and smoking-rooms—both the membens smoke-room' and the public smoke-room," —one is inclined to l>e of the opinion that it is time working men were ny turned to the House of Commons who, having boen. workers 'themselves, • can t _ appreciate the iaithful discharge of ,the dutfcs allocated to the different em* , ploycos; and it is to be hoped that be- , fore long the right authorities will Dβinterviewed upon the matter, and tfceae,' things put right. • J. Tho leading feature of ell the employees round the House, policemen in-. . eluded, is tho kindness extended, to a•; new member. They -are all excellent , guides, patient men, and seem anxjoue to contribute as far as possible,to the ♦' comfort of the memben?. • • ,'. At present the House.eeeme to lie more of a club than a workshop; more of a place of call and amusement than. a place of business. " If it is ever to be a House of .real use to tho nation and the-Empire, ite -.• members will-work more continually and • consecutively than-they do now—talk/. less and work more. • - . I would they would do it. „ .• [Mr John T. Mnophereon, returned m senior rnwnber for Preston with WBLvtAm,. is the orgwuiw* of the, Steel Smeltero , 'Aim* *Born in IjonAm in 1872, tie fttlm *»'<• an iron and steel worker, Mid at tiw W* of twelve youajr MaepbewMv 'worked bwrijty his parent in tbe'worke oi.Mewte Durman, . Long and Co., «t Middlcebrough. At eiffhtcca he wont te mi v » iw.> and during two years of -fjfaia werk vwied India, Burma, aflfl the United Statw. Ho returned to Middlesbrough, usd tenia worked .for MeMrs Dorruan, lioirg. and Co., (ls a steel smelter, until he took met hi* present offfciai poeitioa in the Steel SmeHenf ' Association. ' Begiiming work so early he had pmottotib/ . no education, but be filled up tins gap fey obUiniu-g his usioa'i permission to bteotn* a student et Kuskin Oolieje, Oxforef.] '