GAG FOR SPANISH M.P.’S.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20508, 9 January 1935, Page 1

GAG FOR SPANISH M.P.’S.

Regulations Limit Length of Speeches. • By Air Mail.) MADRID. December 22. Spanish Members of Parliament, under new regulations just introduced, will be docked a month’s pay if they absent themselves unduly from sittings. A Spanish member gets 1000 pesetas a month (approximately £320 sterling annually) and permission must be ob tained from the Speaker if he wishes to stay away from sittings for more than a week. New regulations also will limit the time of debates. Members will speak by the stop watch, the time varying according to the subject being discussed and the importance of the merrp ber’s part in the discussion. For instance, a member is allowed an hour if moving a censure on the Cabinet, but only ten minutes if he is merely replying to some allusion to himself made by another member. When a measure is introduced, three deputies may speak for it and three against. No speech may last longer than forty-five minutes, and provision is also made for minorities who have not been represented in these speeches to elect a member to state their case in a twenty-minute speech.