Page:Robert's Parliamentary Practice.djvu/183

Rh what is agreed to, or he may ask a member to act as secretary, or a secretary may be elected as in a larger assembly. [See page 4.]

In meetings consisting of a half dozen or more people, it has been found advisable to have, in addition to a chairman and a secretary, more rules and more formality than in a meeting of three or four persons. Thus, the members must be seated and are not allowed to walk about or to talk to others while a member is speaking. Usually the chair should require motions to be made and the discussion to be confined to the pending question. In some cases it is well to require remarks to be addressed to the chair as in ordinary assemblies, and this is especially the case where the discussion is intense. But it is not advisable that members be required to rise and stand while debating or making motions unless there are more than a dozen present. The chair should not insist on any more formality than is necessary to protect the rights of the minority and to preserve order. If there are any troublesome members in the meeting it may be best to enforce most of the rules applicable to ordinary deliberative assemblies. The chairman should be the best judge of the extent to which these rules may be relaxed with advantage. In such small bodies motions need not be seconded. The chairman may take part in the debate without leaving the chair and may even make motions himself. There is no limit to the number of times a member may speak,