Orders of the Day — Indian Independence Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 July 1947.
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
I should like to ask what will be the position when the boundary commissions have reported now that the Government have introduced their Amendment making an award by the boundary commissions the law of the land? Is it because this Bill is amended that the new First and Second Schedules are introduced giving us the exact boundaries. Will there be any method by which we can have indicated to us in statutory form what actually constitutes the boundaries between the two divided parts of India? This is a very big Bill, a great deal of which is provisional and some of it is dependent on referendums, the result of one of which we had earlier today. This is a provisional Schedule for the provisional West Punjab Province. It would be helpful if, in some way or other, we could have an Amendment to this Bill, or have indicated to us in Parliament what the official boundaries are as a result of the boundary commissions' work.
Mr Arthur Henderson
, Kingswinford
It will not be possible to put words in statutory form, but it will be possible—and the intention is that it will be done—to report the results of the boundary commissions to Parliament.
Mr R.A. Butler
, Saffron Walden
I would like to ask what will the position of the Schedule be then. It will, in fact, be inoperative. It will be a provisional Schedule, and, although the main districts will be there, the exact boundaries will not be there, and at the same time the boundary commissions might recommend the exclusion of a district, and we would have an inaccurate Statute.
Mr Arthur Henderson
, Kingswinford
The point is that these two Schedules are provisional for the purpose of the Division, and are themselves governed by Clauses 3 and 4, which provide for the setting up of boundary commissions for the Punjab and Bengal, and provide that the awards or the reports of these boundary commissions shall be taken as the new boundaries of these Provinces.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
