and the ensuring that by a given date final action
upon a measure shall have been taken. Prior to the middle of the
nineteenth century liberty of discussion in the Commons was all but
unrestrained, save by what an able authority on English parliamentary
practice has termed "the self-imposed parliamentary discipline of the
parties."[206] The enormous change which has come about is
attributable to two principal causes, congestion of business and the
rise of obstructionism. The effect has been, among other things, to
accentuate party differences and to involve occasional disregard of
the rights of minorities.[207]

[Footnote 206: The name was first employed in
1887.]

[Footnote 207: Redlich, Procedure of the House of
Commons, I., 133-212; Graham, The Mother of
Parliaments, 158-172. An excellent illustration of
the use of the guillotine is afforded by the
history of the passage of the National Insurance
Bill of 1911. See _Annual Register_ (1911),
232-236.]

*148. Votes and Divisions.*--When debate upon the whole or a portion of
a measure is terminated there takes place a vote, which may or may
not involve, technically, a "division." The Speaker or Chairman (p. 141)
states the question to be voted upon and calls for the ayes and noes.
He announces the apparent result and, if his decision is not
challenged, the vote is so recorded. If, however, any member objects,
strangers are asked to withdraw (save from the places reserved for
them), electric bells are rung throughout the building, the two-minute
sand-glass is turned, and at the expiration of the time the doors are
locked. The question is then repeated and another oral vote is taken.
If there is still lack of acquiescence in the announced result, the
Speaker orders a division. The ayes pass into the lobby at the
Speaker's right and the noes into that at his left, and all are
counted by four tellers designated by the Speaker, two from each side,
as the members return to their places in the chamber. This method of
taking a division has undergone but little change since 1836. Under a
standing order of 1888 the Speaker is empowered, in the event that he
considers a demand for a division dilatory or irresponsible, to call
upon the ayes and noes to rise in their places and be counted; but
there is seldo