Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Civil Defence. – in the House of Commons at on 19 June 1941.
Miss Eleanor Rathbone
, Combined English Universities
asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that of the aliens interned in Australia, 419 had been authorised for release before 31st May, but that the great Majority of these, owing to lack of snipping facilities, are still interned and are subjected to the same rigorous treatment as other internees, being unable to speak to visitors except through wire-netting in the presence of armed soldiers, restricted in their correspondence, and forbidden to send cables; and will he approach the Australian authorities to secure that at least those internees, whose political reliability and good character is shown by the authorisation of their release, should be subjected to less harsh and humiliating treatment?
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.