London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
IN THE COMMITTEE ROOM.
The House opens for the reception of the People's representatives at an early hour in the morning, and many members take their breakfast in the coffee-room. No doubt I shall have discussed the matutinal meal at home, so that I have only to drop into the library or the smoking-room. In these two apartments I shall find any number of my colleagues acting (with the assistance of the stamped stationery) as the living encyclopaedias of their constituents. Having got through my letter-writing before leaving home, I shall only have to find my way to that committee room in which it will be my fate to breathe until I am released by the chairman at four o'clock to give my services in another place. Most of the committee chambers run on the upper floor along the river front, but since the removal of the Law Courts from to the Strand, | |
44 | there are also apartments devoted to the consideration of Private Bills, besides the |
It is in the councils appointed by the House that a member really works. Every M.P. is obliged to belong to one or more committees. His only escape is to be a Member of the Government, and then he will not avoid being appointed to the chairmanship of some special committee or other. The ordinary member during the Session serves, on the average, four days a week on these councils. If he shirks his work, he is reported to the Speaker, and then there are what the French call | |
As important interests are at stake, five form a quorum for a private committee, and if that number is not maintained, the expense incurred by those interested, of course, goes for nothing; so it stands to reason that unless the appointed committee men keep a house, there must be a good deal of outside discontent, and outside discontent is the one thing that representatives of the people regard with genuine apprehension. Once in a committee room, the member is bound to stay, as he acts for the day as one of the judges whose duty it is to inquire into the merits or demerits of the scheme undergoing investigation. In some cases there is absolute hardship, as refreshments are not allowed to be served in the rooms during the holdings of certain committees. In cases such as these, the fate of the | |
45 | member is not unlike that of the jury locked in to consider a difficult verdict. He must neither eat nor drink till he has done his duty. Besides the Private Bill Committees, there are the Grand Committees of Law and Trade, to which nearly everyone belongs. In these assemblies 40 form a quorum. (The number required, too, for keeping a house). |
In special committees every constituent is expected to question the witnesses, and, therefore, has to be up in its subjects. If by chance the member should be chairman, then he has to be the chief inquisitor. However, the secretary (one of the clerks of the House) will do his best to get a proof from which the witness can be examined. Sometimes, when a committee is ordered which is expected to be popular there is quite a rush for places, and then those responsible for its selection have to use a great deal of tact and discrimination. The proceedings of such a committee are reported to the newspapers, and the member consequently obtains the honour and glory of unlimited publicity. But the vast majority of councils do their work in silence and neglect, and seldom are rendered famous by the conductors of the Press. | |
