4 Appointment of Members to exercise Speaker’s powers.U.K.
(1)It shall be the duty of the Speaker, within a convenient time after taking office, by instrument in writing under his hand and seal, to appoint not more than seven nor less than three Members of the House of Commons to exercise the powers given to the Speaker by this Act at any time when there is no Speaker or the Speaker is out of the United Kingdom; and if the number of persons appointed is reduced to less than three, he may appoint one or more further Members.
(2)An appointment shall remain in force until the dissolution of the Parliament in which it is made.
(3)An appointment shall be entered in the journals of the House of Commons and be published once in the London Gazette, and the instrument of appointment shall be preserved by the Clerk of the House of Commons, and a duplicate filed in the office of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery.
(4)The powers of the Speaker may be exercised by any one of the Members appointed under this section, but when notice of the issue of a warrant is brought to the publisher of the Gazette and is signed by a Member so appointed, the publisher shall give a receipt for it, specifying the day and hour when it was received, and if more than one notice is brought to him relevant to the same election, he shall insert in the Gazette only the notice first received.