is about fifty. In addition to these, there are the summary-writers, whom we mentioned before, as well as the leader-writers attached to several of the morning papers, who always spend a few hours in the House whilst it is sitting, in order to obtain materials for their articles in next morning's paper.

As you sit in the back seats of the Gallery, and watch the occupants of the first row of boxes at their work, you see that at regular intervals the man in the front row is relieved by a colleague, who takes his place, and catching up the speaker at the very word where he was left by the last reporter, continues the report begun by his predecessor. This system of short 'turns' is one which is absolutely necessary in order to secure those full reports of parliamentary proceedings which appears in each morning's paper. A regular plan is drawn out weekly for the staff of each newspaper, according to which every reporter has fixed hours at which to begin his work, fixed hours at which to leave it, and fixed hours at which to resume it. He enters the Gallery, say, for the first time at seven o'clock in the evening; and according to the plan adopted by most newspapers, he leaves the box at half past seven o'clock. He immediately retires to one of the rooms behind, and there writes out his notes

for the printers. For this work of transcribing his notes from short-hand into long-hand, a certain period is allotted to him, at the end of which, whether he has completed his task of transcription or not, he must resume his seat in the Gallery, and take another 'turn' of half an hour or twenty minutes of reporting. In general, the time given to the reporters for writing out is more than sufficient for that purpose; and it is during the intervals of leisure which they thus enjoy that they resort to the little cabin which we entered first, and to another room at the bottom of the flight of stairs said to be the original Star Chamber— where every accommodation for smoking is provided for them. The length to which the reporters have to extend their notes, however, varies greatly, and is seldom the same upon two occasions. A man may take his first 'turn' in the Gallery, may find the House in the possession of one of those speakers who are the recognised bores of Parliament On such an occasion, he would receive instructions from his leader to make as little as possible of the. speaker's remarks, so that his work might be completed even before he left the box. But his next 'turn' might find him face to face with Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Bright, Mr. Disraeli, or Mr. Lowe, and in this case his strength and ability would be

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taxed to the utmost to complete the transcription of one 'turn' before the next commenced. Should he not succeed in doing so, he must resume his 'turn' in the Gallery at the appointed time, and when it is brought to a close, he must finish the transcription of his short-hand notes taken at the first 'turn' before he commences to write out those taken at his second. Such instances occur, however, very seldom-the time given to each reporter being sufficient for all ordinary occasions. Should

a man be frequently behind-hand, he would, no doubt, soon receive an intimation from the chief of his staff that his services were no longer required.

A custom used formerly to prevail, and, indeed, still lingers in connection with some journals, by which the man whose last 'turn' began at one o'clock in the morning was made the victim for the rest of his brethren—that is, he had to sit till the House rose, however advanced the hour might be when that event occurred. It was found, however, that this system had many practical inconveniences, and once a most important episode in a debate was missed by almost all the morning papers, in consequence of the incompetence or laziness of the 'victim' for that time being. Α reporter must, of course, exercise his discretion not

only in taking down what he hears, but also in writing out what he thinks most suitable for his paper. To attempt to report everything said in the House on one single evening, would be to astound the world at large-nobody being more astounded than the members themselves and to fill the columns of the newspaper with utterly unreadable rubbish. Such an attempt was once made by a newly started paper, but the proprietor of the journal in question had to abandon his effort, which-if I am not much mistaken-landed him in the Bankruptcy Court. Indeed, the first proof of a good parliamentary reporter-as of a good reporter anywhere-is seen in the ability. with which he can condense and revise the speech of which he has taken notes. Mr. Pitman-the inventor of a widely adopted system of short-hand -tells a good story of a tyro who took his seat for the first time in the Gallery upon a certain occasion. The speeches were long that night, and condensation was thus rendered even more necessary than usual.

'How much have you got, sir?' asked the leader of the staff of the beginner in question.

'Oh, I have about two columns.'

'Two columns! We can't have more than half that at the outside!'

'Indeed, sir,' said the innocent, counting the pages of his note-book, and putting his thumb in the middle; then which half shall I take?'

It need hardly be said that this is not the mode of condensation usually adopted in newspaper reporting. One of the great difficulties of the parliamentary reporter is to be found in the fondness of honourable gentlemen for the use of Latin and Greek quotations. Many men in the Gallery are, however, at least on a par with the average members of the House in classical knowledge, and, moreover, constant communications are kept up between the Gallery and the body of the House, and any quotations which have failed to reach the ears of the reporters, are, as a rule, readily supplied by those who have used them. Of course, a good deal of bungling often occurs in this part of the reporter's work, as is indeed inevitable. It is not always, however, the classical quotations which give the reporters greatest trouble. Everybody remembers that famous speech of Mr. Bright's, in which he named the party of malcontents on the Liberal side of the House after the cave to which David retired from the frowns of his father-in-law. The biblical knowledge of the reporters was not equal to the strain put upon it by the adoption of this illustration, and next morning the reports in