Show 3 r 4 SS M PS c j ARE WHIPPED j of garfia men fary procedure i I 1 london slay 18 to the man in the burcet tho tann whipping in of niam i bers as applied to parliamentary proceedings ce is often somewhat puzzling lla 1 reads in his daily newspaper of two and i j three line whips being sent round while an important debate is in progress or of tow the activity of tho whips i saved the government from defeat but i a a rule he has a very hazy idea of what all this really means the term whipping as may bo sup i posed is in no way connected with cori punishment of members but is used in reference to tho work of muster ing good forces on cither sido of the house when a division upon any measure is imminent attached to each i party government or opposition are two principal whips and three or four assistants all of whom needless to say are members of parliament duty it is to keep an eye on the members of their respective parties and eee that they attend the house to vote when required whips in fact arc very important aud essential officials in tho house for upon them devolves the responsibility of either preventing defeat ol 01 the government or reducing its majority to a minimum when tho government has a larga majority as in the case of the present parliament the duties of a whip ara considerably lighter than when athey only hold office by a slender majority but in any case the whips have to bo on tho alert at all throes for many a government has been overthrown by the inactivity of their whips and tho activity of those attached to tho opposition one of the chief dute of the principal government whip who at the present time is sir A acland hood is to prevent defeat by having a sufficient number of supporters ot the government within call whenever there is a likelihood of tho opposition mustering in force and claiming a division when finch an event is anticipated whips or notices are sent round to the members of the government party calling upon them to bo present at the debate these whips are now scored under twice or three times according to their importance formerly whips were underlined as many as tour or five times when the business was urgent meaning that nothing but a serious illness or accident must keep the member away from the house since the beginning of the present year however three line whips have in the place of five lincis and two lino whips instead of the old tour lino circulars one line whips are rarely sent out as they would practically mean that tho business was unimportant but tho two line government whip means important business and that tho recipient should attend the debate tho liao whip is an impera tivo summons how the whips keep themselves acquainted with tho whereabouts of members of their respective parties in order that they may bo able to whip them in when necessary was recently explained to tho writer by a member of tho government when a member wishes to leave tho house ho passes through a quadrangular lobby with doors on each side at one of theao outlets the whips arc posted and it is an unwritten law of the house that every member must pass through this particular door in order that the whips may learn chero lie is going it often happens that a member will be told by the whip that lie cannot leave the house unless he is paired that is to say if a member of tho government wishes to go home or to a theater or dinner as alie case may be during a sitting when his party will bo likely to require his vote he cannot go unless I 1 he gets a friend from the opposition to also leave the house and thus pair with him for alio night by this means of course a vote is lost to each party and the members absence is no advantage to either when a member arranges with another to pair off in this manner he writes on the pair list placed in one of the lobbies as follows mr government and mr opposition paired until p m or whatever time they both agree to be back at the house sometimes it so happens that one member returns before the time has expired but it is a recognized point of honor that he must not vote until after the time stated on the slip thus whips always know how many votes party has in the house should a division bo called and in cases of emergency are able to send for members who may be at their clubs or alie theater etc mr chaplin on one occasion snatched a conservative government from the very bawa of defeat it was during a debate that fell in ascot week and had promised to bo so unimportant that a largo number of the government supporters had taken a holiday and gone to ascot to witness the race for the hunt cup the members of the opposition party on the other hand were id the house in full force and realizing that the day was theirs suddenly sprang a motion for adjournment to call attention to some irish question grasping the situation at once mr chaplin rose and to the accompaniment of the howls of the opposition made one of the longest speeches he has ever delivered meanwhile the sent special messengers right and left after the absent bembera mem bera and even dispatch ed a special train to ascot to bring those up who were on the course and when mr chaplin concluded his speech some hours later a division was taken which resulted in a fair majority for the government |