[303:1] May, 209. Business which is merely formal, or which follows as of course from action already taken by the House, may be transacted in spite of objection. May, 210. [304:1] Under this head is included action upon statutory orders, where the act provides, as it usually does, that the order shall be laid before Parliament, and shall not go into effect if either House adopts an address with that object. Without this exception to the rule the House would have no real opportunity to adopt such an address, unless the government chose to give part of its time for the purpose. Ilbert, "Manual," § 36 note. [304:2] S.O. 1 (2), (3), (5), (7), (8). Ilbert, §§ 35-39. The Annual Army Bill has always been treated as exempted business. _Ibid._, § 36 note. [304:3] S.O. 1 (4). A division in progress is not interrupted. Ilbert, § 35 note. [304:4] Such postponed private business must be distributed as equally as may be between the days allotted to the government and to private members. S.O. 8; Ilbert, § 50. The procedure on private bills will be described in Chap. xx. _infra_. [304:5] Ilbert, §§ 51-54, 47 n. S.Os. 76-80. [304:6] Except in the rare cases where debate is allowed on the ground that an urgent personal grievance is involved. Ilbert, § 53 (6). [305:1] S.O. 9. Ilbert, §§ 55-60. It is not usual to ask on Friday questions requiring an oral answer. Ilbert, § 56 note. [305:2] Hans. 4 Ser. CI., 1353. [305:3] Unless the minister was not present to answer, or the question did not appear on the notice paper, and is of an urgent character. S.O. 9 (3). [305:4] In practice a motion for a new writ of election is usually made before questions, and the introduction of a new member follows them. Ilbert, § 47 note. [305:5] S.O. 10. [306:1] Ilbert, § 41 note. Technically an order of the day is a matter which is set down for a particular day by an order of the House; a notice of motion is a motion set down for the day by notice given by a member without any order of the House; but under the present rules an order of the House is made in many cases without any actual vote, or even the opportunity for a vote, the proceedings being in fact much the same as in the case of a notice of motion. The distinction remains, however, as a means of classifying different kinds of business. [306:2] S.O. 5. [306:3] S.O. 4. [308:1] As Redlich remarks (_Recht und Technik_, 315-16), the speech having a general political character, debate and amendment are not limited by any rule of relevancy, but stray over every kind of political grievance or aspiration and the whole foreign and domestic policy of the government. He points out that until 1880 the debate rarely took more than a couple of days, but since that time the number of sittings devoted to it has run from six to sixteen. CHAPTER XVII THE CABINET'S CONTROL OF THE COMMONS [Sidenote: A Body of Men can say only Yes or No.]