32 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 
over five tons. On his retirement from office he has the privi- 
lege of being called ‘‘ to the House of Lords.’’ And the peer- 
age is accompanied by a pension of £4000 a year for life. 
Since confederation in 1867 the present is the eighth 
Speaker of the Canadian Commons. The practice usually being 
a new Speaker with each new parliament, and alternately 
English and French, although that order was departed from 
in 1896, when Sir James Edgar was called to the chair. 
Although the English Speaker enjoys more perquisites, 
and has more responsibilities, the Commons at Ottawa have 
provided a comfortable suite of rooms in the buildings for 
their Speaker, with a suitable salary attached, and it is the 
Speaker’s own fault 1f his position is not reasonably pleasant, 
as after all there is a strong feeling of respect for any one in 
that position in the House who respects the right of the 
members. 
The mace figures somewhat prominently in parliamentary 
government. An English authority says: ‘* When the mace 
lies upon the table it is a House ; when under, it is a com- 
mittee. When it is out of the House, no business can be 
done. Whenfrom the table and upon the Sergeant’s shoulder, 
the Speaker alone manages. Before the election of Speaker it 
should be under the table, and the House cannot proceed to 
the election of a new Speaker without the mace.’’ When not 
in use in parliament it is kept safely under lock and key in the 
Speaker’s rooms and accompanies him on all state occasions. 
The mace now in use at Ottawa belonged to the old Legislative 
Assembly of Canada, and was carried away by the rioters on 
the 25th of April, 1849, when the parliament buildings were 
burned at Montreal, when Lord Elgin was Governor-General, 
but was subsequently recovered. 
The American mace in the House of Representatives at 
Washington is described as a bundle of ebony rods bound with 
bands of silver, bearing at the top a silver globe on which is 
perched the national eagle with outspread wings. 
The Legislatures of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and 
Prince Edward Island have never used a mace, so that after 
all it may not be absolutely essential. 
