OF MOTIONS TO POSTPONE.
68. If the assembly is willing to entertain consider a question, but
not at the time when it is moved, the proper course is either to
postpone the subject to another day, or to order it to lie on the
table.
69. When the members individually want more information than they
possess, at the time a question is moved, or desire further time for
reflection and examination, the proper motion is, to postpone the
subject to such future day as will answer the views of the assembly.
70. This motion is sometimes used improperly, to get rid of a
proposition altogether, as would be done by an indefinite
postponement. This is effected by fixing upon a day, which, according
to the common course of things, will not arrive until after the
assembly has been brought to a close. But a motion, worded in this
manner, is precisely equivalent to a motion for indefinite
postponement, and should be so considered and treated.
71. If the assembly has something else before it, which claims its
present attention, and is therefore desirous to postpone a particular
proposition, until that subject is disposed of, such postponement may
be effected by means of a motion that the matter in question lie on
the table. If this motion prevails, the subject so disposed of may be
taken up, at any time afterwards, and considered, when it may suit the
convenience of the assembly.
72. This motion is also sometimes made use of for the final
disposition of a subject; and it always has that effect, when no
motion is afterwards made to take it up.[12]
12. “This motion (i.e., _to lie on the table_) is not debatable, and
is not subject to amendment.”—Ed.