peers occupy the
benches on the right of the woolsack and the Opposition those on the
left, while members who prefer to remain neutral take their places on
the cross benches between the table and the bar.[172]

[Footnote 171: This order runs: Prince of Wales,
other princes of the royal blood, Archbishop of
Canterbury, Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of York,
Lord President of the Council, Lord Privy Seal, the
dukes, the marquises, the earls, the viscounts, the
bishops, and the barons.]

[Footnote 172: For full description, with
illustrations, see Wright and Smith, Parliament,
Past and Present, Chap. 18.]

II. ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

*123. Hours of Sittings.*--In the seventeenth century the sittings of
the Commons began regularly at 8.30 or 9 o'clock in the morning and
terminated with nightfall. In the eighteenth century, and far into the
nineteenth, they were apt to begin as late as 3 or 4 o'clock in the
afternoon and to be prolonged, at least not infrequently, until toward
daybreak. In 1888, however, a standing order fixed midnight as the
hour for the "interrupting" of ordinary business, and in 1906 the hour
was made 11 o'clock. Nowadays the House meets regularly on Mondays,
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 2.45 and continues in session
throughout the evening, the interval formerly allowed for dinner
having been abolished in 1906. On Fridays, set apart, until late in
the session, for the consideration of private members' bills, the hour
of convening is 12 o'clock. At sittings on days other than Friday the
first hour or more is consumed usually with small items of formal
business and with the asking and answering of questions addressed to
the ministers, so that the public business set for the day is reached
at approximately 4 o'clock.[173]

[Footnote 173: Redlich, Procedure of the House of
Commons, II., 68-77.]

*124. Officers.*--The principal officers of the House are the (p. 121)
Speaker, the Clerk and his two assistants, the Sergeant-at-Arms and
his deputies, the Chaplain, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of
Ways and Means. The Clerk and the Sergeant-at-Arms, together with
their assistants, are appointed for life by the crown, on nomination
of the premier, but the Speaker and t