But it is useless to deplore or condemn a tendency unless you see how it can be checked.  Why has this representation of economic interests become so strong?  Because Parliament is the arena in which important industrial problems are discussed and settled.  It is not a very good body for that purpose.  If we had a National Industrial Council charged, not with the final decision, but with the most serious and systematic discussion of such problems, they would be more wisely dealt with.  And, what is quite as important, such a body would offer precisely the kind of sphere within which the representation of interests as such would be altogether wholesome and useful; and, once it became the main arena of discussion, it would satisfy the demand for interest-representation, which is undermining the character of Parliament.  In other words, the true alternative to functional representation in Parliament is functional devolution under the supreme authority of Parliament.

But still more important than the dissatisfaction aroused by the composition of the House is the dissatisfaction which is due to the belief that its functions are very inefficiently performed.  It is widely believed that, instead of controlling Government, Parliament is in fact controlled by it.  The truth is that the functions imposed upon Parliament by increased legislative activity and the growth of the sphere of Government are so vast and multifarious that no part of them can be adequately performed in the course of sessions of reasonable length; and if the sessions are not of reasonable length—­already they are too long—­we shall be deprived of the services of many types of men without whom the House would cease to be genuinely representative of the mind of the nation.

Consider how the three main functions of Parliament are performed—­legislation, finance, and the control of administration.  The discussion of legislation by the whole House has been made to seem futile by the crack of the party whip, by obstruction, and by the weapons designed to deal with obstruction—­the closure, the guillotine, the kangaroo.  A real amendment has been brought about in this sphere by the establishment of a system of committees to which legislative proposals of various kinds are referred, and this is one of the most hopeful features of recent development.  But there is still one important sphere of legislation in which drastic reform is necessary:  the costly and cumbrous methods of dealing with private bills promoted by municipalities or by railways and other public companies.  It is surely necessary that the bulk of this work should be devolved upon subordinate bodies.