THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH.
12
The Speaker's Chair wollen the House is empty and the mace
taken away. •
IVE thousand pounds a year, a ne old house in the centre of London, next in rank after the Premier the and Lord President of
Council, the virtual autocrat over 614 elected representatives of the people in the Mother of Parliaments.
That's the job of the Speaker
of the House of Com
mons.
A good job, you any. And so it is. Few would refuse it if they got the chance.
But don't belleve it in all beer and skittles, be- cause it isn't.
How would you like to alt day after day, hour after hour, in the dark ro- cesses of what looks like
sentry box placed on
lilgh, dressed in uncomfortable. old-fashioned clothes, wearing a long, stuffy wig, listening to seem- ingly everlasting speeches?
The purely physical strain on the Speaker must, of itself, be enor- mous. This is certainly no job for a fidgety man.
He must train himself to be al- most immobile, sitting up there like n carven image, but with his mind always alert and ready- seeing and hearing everything that goes on.
No chance of forty winks in the shadows of the Speaker's Chair, no opportunity to wander away from the familiar scene, for his 13 the task of seeing that others do not wander,
himself.
E
He must not wander
VERY day alinost pre- cisely at seventeen minutes to three there is a hush in the Lobbles of the House of Commons D$ the Speaker's procession passes slowly towards the Chair. A strident voice breaks the allence with the ery, "Hats off, strangers," and the Speaker enters the Chamber, every M.P. standing in respect to him as the embodiment of their authority.
And from then to the rising of the House he is always on duty. - even if not actually in the Cham-
ber.
In the quiet watches of the night M.P.8 decide to go on talking and talking-he is linble, at any time, to bo awakened, to dress himself hurriedly in his cere- monial clothes, and to go down to the Chamber to cope with a situn-
CAPTAIN FITZROY
"has done a good deal to raise the standards of the House."
of
Not Lion
grave disorder. for him the pleasures of dining out. It is too great a risk to take. He might not get back in time.
Even in the holiday season he must be reasonably within call in case of the urgent necessity to bring Parliament back to work. He Is as tied to his job as any care- taker!
Once on duty he must be a para- gon of patience, a master of per- suasiveness. When necessary ter- rible in authority, stern and in- cisive in his rebuke to those who would break the pence.
He must have no favourites. He must be accessible to all sections of the House, ready to give help and guidance to everybody.
At a moment's notice he must be prepared to give rulings on all kinds of tricky points of order.
He must know the precedents of generations of Parliamentary his- tory; it necessary he must make precedents of his own.
He must always give the correct answer. He must never be tripped. Telp him once and bang goes his Authority!
One of the Speaker's most dif-
BAD LIGHTING INJURES
WEDNESDAY,
JULY 21,.
1937.
Who'd Be RINGING
The Speaker?
by E. E. HUNTER
fcult problems is to de- cide what is a definite matter of urgent public Importance." This arlsea when M.P.s de- sire to move the ad- journment of the House of Commons to debate critical issues. which suddenly fare up from time to time. These always put the Speaker in a delicato Ho is the position. guardian of the powers, dignities, liberties and privileges of every member.
He must protect the private member against the invasion of his rights by the execu- tive, but he must also - protect the execu» tive against vexatious obstruction. Always he must strive to keep the balance.
Like the policeman at the door, he must know every M.P. by face, name and constituency. He must be acquainted with all their ways and annoying tile folbles.
Upon bim falls the far-from- easy task of arranging the debates and guiding the House through its deliberations.
Theoretically if you want to speak you must rise and catch the Speaker's eye, but this is not so casy, as when the,other night twenty-two Labour MPs all rose Bo there has developed at once. the sensible practice of letting the Speaker know that you desire to take part.
"ROM" his list the Speaker is able to pro- duco
much more balanced debate than by com- pletely depending on chance,
But this does not mean that all debate is ordered and regulated. On occasions when feelings run high, when spontaneous rejoinder and counter-rejoinder break the quiet placidity of normal Parlia-. mentary life, then the Speaker must let the House go its own way. only keeping loose hand on the rein. And this all requires great tact and understanding.
Then the Speaker must decide as to what and what is not Parlia- mentary Innguage. And this 60 much rests on mood and manner,
EYESIGHT
(Reprinted By Courtesy From The Evening Standard)
is at this time of the year, when light, and can be overcome easily by is about 40 per cent males, and 40 Ieveral months of de re evenings fitting shades that diffuse a bright per cent to
There is no doubt that more have already passed, that one's eyes light over the whole room.
"To appreciate how harmful bad people are wearing spectacles to-day begin to feel the strain of Insufficient
ever before. This does not arlicial lighting. Few people, by artificial light can be for the eye-than this time, have escaped a periodic sight," said the Optical Association necessarily mean, the expert added, feeling of tiredness about their eyes. official, "one must reallae how many that more people have bad eyesight, It is not, of course, always due to people in this country have defects but that more people realise it, and bad lighting, but in many cases that of their sight.
46 an important contributory factor. "I can quote you figures for 1934 iako sensible stops to right it.
I discussed with a technical of later figures are not yet available, Private Schools.
clal of the British Optical Associa- and it is difficult to make historical tion, in Brook Street, W., the actual comparisons, for in the past
the
Ho went on to consider how much
of this defective eyesight is due to harm that bad artincial lighting can statistles of people who went "DC bad lighting, and particularly to in-
tacles have not been fully kept. do to the eyes.
He pointed out that there are two "The 47 million people in the Bri- sumclent lighting. forms of bad lighting-dull lighting tish Isles and glare. Both are harmful to the
dyes. Fifty per cent. Below Standard.
can be divided roughly In the youngest age group, that into three age groups: 11 million of of the children, a large number of them are 15 years old or less; 22 those with defective eyesight suffer million of them are between 15 and from myopia, or short-sightedness, a 45 years old; the remaining 14 mil- form of defect in which the royṇ focus in front of the retina, and make an indistinct image.
The vast majority of Londoners ilon are over 45 years. spent their evenings last winter in Millions with Dad Sight. dull lighting conditions. By taking
a light-metre to measure the actual
light in houses, offices and shops, I from eye defects? have discovered in the past few days
One of the contributory causes of myopia is for a child to stoop badly.. The trouble is that so many children have to do their homework in dull light-the light in most homes is far
ta 10
"How many of each group suffer "Ot the 11 million in the youngest that the average of artificial light group, 5 million are school children,
below
intensity in the necessary provided in most parts of London is and of these 5 million, 360,000 suffer
which children can read and work in below bait the intensity accepted as trom eye defects.
Of the 22 million in the middle comfort or are pupils at some in- minimum for the health of the
age group, 35 millon have faulty adequately lighted, private school, суса.
where more attention. Is given to All pubile transport vehicles, with eyesight.
The whole of the 14 million playing fields and gymnasiums than the exception of Underground trains,
under-lit. The same is people over 45 years old have de- to the vital matter of sight. are badly
"Bad light causes children work- every shop I have tested, ex- fects of sight. Once a person has of fruc
passed that age the normal thing is cept milk bars.
Modern offices have frequently for his eyes to deteriorate. He orng under much conditions to strain
Icada explained. That onough light, but often it is badly she gets a defect of the eyes called forward over. their books," the ex- spaced, to throw aliadown on to the presbyopia, which is simply a weak- Pert desks.
con got steadily Small private offices, where ening of the eyes due to advancing stooping, and that may lead
myopia. Myopia concentrated eye work has to be age.
lighted,
"The stories one hears of 'my dear worse unul adolescence is passed. It have found desks at typlits must work with one-fifth of in her life, are all nonsense. If the cured. It is a permanent defect, the
old lady can see to read, then she once a child's eyes have suffered light required for proper sight.
the London County cannot see well at a distance, and Children In Council schools are well cared for in although she may not wear glasses, General Health Lowered. the matter of Hight, but when they she should.
The other thing that bad ght go home in the evenings to do their "The total of people in the British homework they nearly always sit in Isles who have defective eyesight, can do to the eyes is to bring on everybody a light that places a sovere strain on therefore, is about 17,850,000, or ap- presbyopin, from which their eyes at one of the most import- proximately 38 per cent of the entire suffers after 451 at an earlier age.
And that "People in their thirties, parilcu- ant Umes of their lives for preserve population, Opticians
more women than men consult them Tarly their late thirties, who work ing the health of their sight.
Glare is a lesser evil of artificial for defects of sight-the proportion and live in insuficient artificial light,
dons are rarely suffelently, "hich old granny, 24, and never used glasses can be checked, but it can never bei
and I
from 11.
on what George Meredith called Ane shades and nice feelings.
An insulting epithet thrown across the floor by one member may be a much worse offerice against Parliamentary law and order than when used by another,
There are occasions, too, when the Speaker must be conveniently deaf-when he fails to hear an unruly phrase and passes on as if nothing has happened.
It may be late at night when the tempers of honourable gentlemen are getting frayed, or when a member has been righteously pro- voked or is genuinely indignant.
In times like these Mr. Speaker can afford to forget the offence.
For it must be remembered that upon the Chair itself largely falls the responsibility as to whether there is a scene or not.
O
VER and over Again I have seen developing an ugly situation which has been avoided by the tact and understanding of the Speaker in handling an unruly
meniber.
It is a human crisis of this kind which calls for all the Speaker's power of judgment. He must be able to sense at once whether the disturbance is a spontaneous out- burst or whether it is a carefully- manufactured demonstration.
Each episode must be judged on its merits, not by any rule of thumb methods.
And then, Hke all of us, he has Once the smaller worries of ille. elected, ho. in supposed to be out- side of politics altogether, but that puts him' in an akward predica- ment when, as at the last General Election, Captain. FitzRoy. the present Speaker was challenged by Labour in his Daventry con- stituency.
A possible way out of this dilemma is that oncé elected the Speaker should be transferred to a newly-created nominal consti- tuency-call it St. Stephens, or what you will-and this may hap jen one of these days.
A BOB ROYAL
BE
DELL RINGERS from all over the world seldom come to London without turning their steps in the Cathedral. direction of St. Paul'a There a "College Youth" on the end of a bell rope means something more bell ringing, if one than ordinary
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TO SAN FRANCISCO NEW YORK AND BOSTON
Pres. Coolidge
may judge from practice night at the cathedral, and the Peal Book of the Ancient
of College Society Youths, old established association of bell ringers. But these "Youtho" have been ringing bells for 300 years they are to celebrats their tercen
November so perhaps tenary on it is not surprising that they have gained a mastery of the technique of Pres. Wilson bell ringing calculated
to, overawa
the mere man-in-the-street. No less awesome are the terms used to
they the changea describe "Bob Royal," "Stedman "Grandaire Catera," "Superlative Surprise Major," to name only a kar,
of
or
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8.00 a.m. Aug. Pres. Harrison
8.00 a.m. Aug. It is evening when the "College Pres. Folk
8.00 am. Aug. Pres. Pierce Youths" meet to practice change
Prca. Van Buren ringing in the great domed cathedral
they Pres. Garfield St. Paul's. Some nights
London Pres. Hayes other famous meet nt churches-Southwark Cathedral. St. three Mary-ic-Bow, and two
Is to be
St. others but to-night it is fo Paul's, the Ringing Headquarters of the Society. Buses swirl and swoop around
the gray, islanded building. for deserted, but steps are almost the workers thronging the sidewalks of Ludgate Hill are hurrying home- or surging in the direction of ent. As the entertainment. of
nicsbury Avenue's theaterland, in
City becomes quiet, the bell ringers get busy, for a stern duly-or is it play?-awalls them in the chamber high above the street. Whichever it they seem to derive a great deal of enjoyment from the exercise of their skill.
Twelve bell ropes hong in the ring. ing chamber, ready for the "Youths" who filter in one by one. It is a bare, busin
businesslike
room, its walls made memorable by inscriptions of record peals which have been rung in this chamber.
While the ringers are assembling, a veteran "Youth" who says he has been ringing bells ever since he was a choir boy takes me up above the ringing chamber into the belfry. Up the dark and narrow stone staircase we stumblingly feel our way round and round, and narrower and nar
until 3
I am
glad to be assured rower, that no one is
one is likely in be coming y traffic down at this moment-one-way t only is thinkable. To attempt to get
be-st Into reverse would disconcerting. At last pale
us. We are in the belfey, high up over the City, above even the flying pigeons. Here the twelve bells are fixed in their frames, mouth upward, clappers resting to one side of each bronze lip, quielly walling for the tug of a rope to turn them into music.
In the bell chamber below, each of eleven ropes now has its man. The twelfth-that of the tenor bell-has two men. This mighty bell, which IKE nil public men,
weighs 02 cwt., is said to be one of the Speaker1s wor-- the heaviest ringing bells in Eng- ried by cranks. A de-
lana. Jicious Coronation episode was the protest of some extremo tem- perance advocates against his old- fashioned rumbling coach being drawn to the Abbey by brewers' horses!
But these are only the minor troubles in a wearing like.
Small wonder if Speakers some- times tap impatiently as the prize bores drone on. And can they not be forgiven if when, driven to desperation by platitudes and irrelevances, there come from the depths of the chair biting little sotto - Voce remarks about the quality of the debate and the capacity of the orator?
Captain FitzRoy, the present oc- cupant of the Chair, has done, a good deal to raise the standards of the House.
Ho has frowned 03 loug speeches: he has appealed for more cut and thrust of debate. But response is slow. The House inds it difficult to escape from time- old customs. Still, future Speakers may yet rejoice in the fact that M.Ps have learned how nearly anything can be said in twenty minutes.
N the meantime, the
position of Speaker re- mains one of the hardest and most responsible in British public life. Always, he must be a man rather set apart from his fellows an austera Ögure an essential part of our system of ordered freedom.
His is a job which many would Ilke but which few could doi Labour has never yet contributed
Each ringer stands on a le onto which two wooden platform
fastened. Into leather loops there he pushes his toes so that he shall stand Brmly.
ore
the conductor.
"Go," commands Immediately the bells peal out, one by one, then the changes begin, and the ringers are off, pulling their ropes, knitting their bell sounds in- Intricacy, to pallerns of melodie while at the other end of the bell whirling rapes, the great bells are and turning, throwing their music into the air.
Bell ringing seems to be a vigorous affair, even on practice night, but the records of the Society show that on one ocenston a team of "Youths" kept on ringing for twelve hours, completing minutes, twenty-five 21,583 changes. This feat was per- formed at St. Lawrence, Appleton, in 1922, and I am told that it is the world record for non-stop ringing by a single set of men. I believe it. A ringer comes and sits on the bench by the wall. "Do you always ring the same bell?" I ask.
"Yes, as a rule."
"What nole is it?"
But the ringer is not sure, though he can tell the number of the bell.
After all, it isn't necessarily music alone which makes beil, ringers. Precision, timing, permutations and combinations, and mastery of techni
que
and method, play a large part in it as well As one "Youth" put it, mak the ringers "wenvo patterns,""
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ing intricate and delightful patch- Hong Bank Bldg. work out of bell tones.
Do they play old tunes for their diversion? Or familiar melodies? No. It's the "change" again. So I nsk a Youth," "Do you never play Indeed, Anybody can do
∙no,
a Speaker to the House of Com-that, Change ringing is much more mons.
When it does it will be a man with the fine qualitica which Lord Own Snell has shown in his aphere, a man who will best carry on the high traditions of this great office.
·To-day's Thought AGGRESSION grows by what it feeds on, and the idea of justice to blurred by the habitual toleration of injustice.
-HENRY GEORGE.
will become presbyople several years before the normal age of 45.
Those are the two defects of sight which bad and insufficient lighting most usually entises."
"Bad lighting affects the health in,
dimeall So I leave it at that.
The conductor of the famous non- stop peal of 1022 la conducting the ringers now. He looks as though he could go on forever.
R. D.
Dull other ways through the eyes. lighting means that one must strain the eyes in order to rand at all; a glare puts an extra strain on read- Ing.
"Both
.conditions lead to head-
aches, weariness and a lowering of general health, expressing itzulf in signs of Irritability and bad lemper. rectify damage already caused, and The remedy is simple spectacles to and scientifically-placed adequate artificial lighting in home and at work to prevent any further damage.
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