To-morrow a Saturday sitting will be hold to wind up the business of the Session, and Parliament will be prorogued. 'This is a day or two earlier than was expected, a result which is partly duo to the' extraordinary scene witnessed in the House of Commons last Friday, when the Welsh_mombers, with the ce-operation of a few English Liberals, defied the authority of the chair, then occupied by Mr. J. W. Lowther, the Chairman of Committees, and refused to clear the House for a division. The occasion was a motion for closure on a Bill brought in by the Government to deal with the educational deadlock which has been caused in Wales through the refusal of two or three of the County Councils to carry out the provisions of the Education Act of 1902. The duty of deciding whether a closure motion is justified is vested in the. Speaker or Chairman; and in this case the Welsh members declared that the Chairman, in place of exercising independent judgment, allowed himself to be made a tool of by Mr. Balfour in order to force a measure through without ailequate discussion. The Speaker refused to give way, and duly "reported" the disobedience of the Welsh members to himself. as Deputy Speaker, whereupon the Liberals, under the leadership of Mr. Asquith, showed their practical sympathy with the Welshmen by refusing to take any further
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.