Whatever the present practice of the House of Commons with respect to
strangers may be, it does not seem probable that it will soon undergo
alteration. In the session of 1849 a Select Committee, composed of
fifteen members, and including the leading men of all parties, was
appointed "to consider the present practice of this House in respect of
the exclusion of strangers." The following is the Report of the
Committee _in extenso_ (_Parl. Pap._, No. 498. Sess. 1849):
"That the existing usage of excluding strangers during a
division, and upon the notice by an individual Member that
strangers are present, has prevailed from a very early period of
parliamentary history; that the instances in which the power of
an individual Member to exclude has been exercised have been
very rare: and that it is the unanimous opinion of your
committee, that there is no sufficient ground for making any
alteration in the existing practice with regard to the admission
or exclusion of strangers."
This Report confirms the statement of Mr. Ross (p. 83., _antè_), that
within his experience of thirty-one years no change has been made in the
present rule of the House upon this matter, which, it would seem, dates
very far back. The Speaker was the only witness examined before the
Committee, and his evidence is not printed.
Arun.
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