Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/59

 n s. i. JAN. 15, 1910.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

51

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION LISTS.

(10 S. xii. 490.)

THE publication of accurate division lists only became possible with the adoption of the present system of taking divisions, by which the two parties pass through separate lobbies, where they are counted by the tellers and their names noted by the clerks. It will be seen from the following descriptions of the older methods how impossible an accurate record must have been :

" Until 1857 a division was effected in the Lords by the not contents remaining within the bar, and the contents going below the bar : but in that year their lordships adopted nearly the same arrange- ments as those which had been in successful opera- tion, for many years, in the Commons." Sir Thomas Erskine May,' Law ^Parliament,' eleventh ed., p. 358.

" Whilst the Commons sat in St. Stephen's Chapel, the separation of the ' ayes ' and ' noes ' for the purpose of a division was effected by the retention of one party within the house, to be counted there, and by the withdrawal of the other party into the lobby, who were counted on their return into the house." Ibid., p. 360.

The Commons' arrangements, referred to in the first of the above quotations, were adopted on 18 Feb., 1836, on the motion of Mr. Henry G. Ward. The gist of the argument for the change is contained in the following sentence from his speech :

" Everybody was aware of the inaccuracies that were to be met with in the list of every division that was now given in the newspapers ; and by the

Rlan he proposed, he was satisfied that an accurate st of names would be furnished." ' Hansard's Debates,' Third Series, vol. xxxi. col. 562; 'Com- mons' Journals,' vol. xci. p. 54.

The first division under the new system was taken on 22 Feb., 1836, on the second reading of the London and Brighton Railway Bill (' Hansard,' col. 688 ; ' Journal,* p. 67). Hansard has the following note to the division list :

" This is the first division in which the names of the members dividing were taken down, according to Mr. Ward's plan (see ante, p. 562), and regularly entered in the votes of the House. The lists hence- forth, except one or two, when the House was in Committee, which case was supposed not to be provided for by Mr. Ward's Resolution, may be relied on."

On the last point Sir Erskine May (p. 370) explains that

" in committees of the whole house, divisions were formerly taken by the members of each party cross- ing over to the opposite side of the house : but the same forms are now observed in all division?, whether in the house or in committee."

The new method was adopted by the Lords on 10 March, 1857, when Earl Stan- hope in moving the necessary resolutions said :

"The lists at present published in the news- papers contained constant errors arid inaccuracies, of which frequent complaints were made, but which could not be avoided under the existing system. Some very interesting divisions were not recorded at all." ' Hansard's Debates,' Third Series, vol. cxliv. col. 2112 ; ' Lords' Journals,' vol. Ixxxviii. p. 548.

On 19 May, 1857, the first division under the new rules took place, the subject being the second reading of the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bill ('Hansard, 5 vol. cxlv. col. 537; ' Journal, 1 vol. Ixxxix. p. 37).

It may be worth noting that the Com- mons' division lists are not entered in the ' Journal,' being merely circulated with the Votes and Proceedings issued on the morning following each sitting. The Lords* lists are both appended to the daily Minutes of Proceedings and entered in the ' Journal,* but in slightly different forms. In the Minutes the lords of equal degree appear in alphabetical order, whereas in the ' Journal l they are entered in the order of precedence shown by the Roll.

It will be seen from the above that, while the accurate, complete, and official pub- lication of Parliamentary division lists is of comparatively recent origin, it was pre- ceded by inaccurate, incomplete, and un- official publication. It would be difficult to say to what date the latter goes back ; so far as appears from the Tables of Contents, the first list in the ' Parliamentary History * is of the division taken in the House of Commons on 24 April, 1716, on the motion to go into committee on the Septennial Bill (vol. vii. col. 367). It is probable, however, that isolated lists were printed earlier.

F. W. READ.

The practice of allowing Parliamentary debates to be published in the newspapers dates from 1771. See Green's ' Short His- tory, l pp. 751-2. In his ' History of the Radical Party in Parliament * Mr. Harris gives the first printed list of members of the progressive party taking part in a division under the year 1793. W. SCOTT. [A. A. B. also thanked for reply. 1

MBS. BROWNING AND SAPPHO (10 S. xii. 490). The original Greek of Mrs. Browning's poem is near the beginning of the second book of ' Clitophon and Leucippe.* The song is given in prose, which may account for S.'s failure to find it. EDWARD BENSLY.