Sir HENRA DRAYTON:

You have done that for two days.

Mr. STANSELL:

I shall finish in two or three sentences, and then my hon. friend may put his question. I do not think it is too much to ask hon. members in this House to reserve criticism until there is something to criticise. They have anticipated what may

[Mr. Stansell.l

be going to happen in the next few days or the next few weeks, and they have proceeded to criticise, and most of the criticism has been directed against an individual or individuals not in this chamber. It would appear to me to be the sound and proper thing to do, in view of the circumstances, to finish up the actual business of the House in a common sense way, and then go to our homes.

Mr. SANDERSON:

What would the hon. member call the common sense way, and what does he mean when he refers to a provisional government?

Mr. STANSELL:

I would call the common sense course the direct opposite of that which has been taken by my hon. friends opposite yesterday and to-day.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I declare the motion

carried.

Mr. CANNON:

Before you declare the

motion carried I wish to call the attention of Your Honour to the fact that five members have voted whose vote can be challenged. However, I do not wish to bring this question up to-night; I am simply calling Your Honour's attention to the fact that I reserve my right to take any further action which may be necessary.

Mr. SPEAKER:

I would remind the House that the challenging of the vote of an hon. member cannot be made by raising a point of order. There must be a direct charge embodied in a substantive motion.

Mr. HANNESSON:

I was paired with the hon. member for St. Boniface (Mr. Howden). Had1 I voted I would have voted against the motion.

Mr. EDWARDS (South Waterloo):

I was paired with the hon. member for North Waterloo (Mr. Euler). Had I voted I would have voted against the motion.

Mr. MORIN (St. Hyacinthe):

I was paired with the hon. member for London (Mr. White). Had I voted I would have voted for the motion.

Mr. FONTAINE (Translation):

Mr. Speaker, I was paired with the hon. member for Ottawa (Mr. Chabot). Had I voted I would have voted for the motion.

Mr. BIRD:

I wish to explain to the House, and with extreme regret, that I was paired with the hon. member for Peace River (Mr. Kennedy) who had retired from the House on account of indisposition, and I cast my vote inadvertently.

Mr. PARENT:

Mr. Speaker, I think the

rule is that once a vote has been cast and recorded it cannot be recalled.

Mr. SPEAKER:

Order. The rule is that when a vote has been recorded, when the result has been proclaimed, and when the motion has been declared carried or lost, that expresses the judgment of the House. This principle is to be found in May, who says at page 343 that a vote once given cannot be withdrawn.

As regards the claim made by the hon. member for Nelson that he was paired, May, at page 336, says:

5312 COMMONS

Supply-Formation oj Ministry

The^e cannot be any (parliamentary recognition of this practice ((pairing) although it has never been expressly condemned and it is therefore conducted privately by individual members or arranged by gentlemen known as the whips, who are entrusted by their political parties with the office of collecting their respective forces on a division.

Therefore, the . hon. gentleman having voted in the House, the vote must stand as it was proclaimed by the Clerk.

Do you refuse to

recognize the practice of pairing?

Mr. SPEAKER:

I rely on the authority of May as set out at page 336, which I have just quoted, and on the constant practice of this House.

Sir HENRY DRAYTON:

In the first place, let me congratulate my hon. friends-

Hear, hear.

Sir HENRY DRAYTON:

-upon the partial success they have achieved.

Partial!