he Chairman and Deputy Chairman
of Ways and Means are elected for a single parliament by the House.[174]
All save the Chairman and his deputy are, strictly, non-political
officers. The Clerk signs all orders of the House, indorses bills sent
or returned to the Lords, reads whatever is required to be read during
the sittings, records the proceedings of the chamber, and, with the
concurrence of the Speaker, supervises the preparation of the official
Journal. The Sergeant-at-Arms attends the Speaker, enforces the
House's orders, and presents at the bar of the House persons ordered
or qualified to be so presented. The Chairman of Ways and Means (in
his absence the Deputy Chairman) presides over the deliberations of
the House when the body sits as a committee of the whole[175] and
exercises supervision over private bill legislation. Although a
political official, he preserves, in both capacities, a strictly
non-partisan attitude.

[Footnote 174: In point of fact, the Chairman and
Deputy Chairman retire when the ministry by which
they have been nominated goes out of office.]

[Footnote 175: On this account he is referred to
ordinarily as the Chairman of Committees.]

*125. The Speakership.*--The speakership arose from the need of the
House when it was merely a petitioning body for a recognized
spokesman, and although the known succession of Speakers begins with
Sir Thomas Hungerford, who held the office in the last parliament of
Edward III. (1377), there is every reason to suppose that at even an
earlier date there were men whose functions were substantially
equivalent. The Speaker is elected at the beginning of a parliament by
and from the members of the House, and his tenure of office, unless
terminated by resignation or death, continues through the term of that
parliament. The choice of the House is subject to the approval of the
crown; but, whereas in earlier days the king's will was at this point
very influential, the last occasion upon which a Speaker-elect was
rejected by the crown was in 1679. Though nominally elected, the
Speaker is in fact chosen by the ministry, and he is pretty certain to
be taken, in the first instance, from the party in power. During the
nineteenth century, however, it became customary to re-elect a Speaker
as long as he should be willing to serve, regardless of party
affiliation.

*126. The Speak