4 p.m.
Then there came to be serious faces at the Colonial Office , and all the little pleasantries of a friendly opposition were at an end . It was felt that the battle must now become a real fight , and Secretary and Under-Secretary girded up their loins . Major Magruder was chairman of his own committee , and being a man of a laborious turn of mind , much given to blue-books , very patient , thoroughly conversant with the House , and imbued with a strong belief in the efficacy of parliamentary questionings to carry a point , if not to elicit a fact , had a happy time of it during this session . He was a man who always attended the House from 4 p.m. to the time of its breaking up , and who never missed a division . The slight additional task of sitting four hours in a committee-room three days a week , was only a delight the more , -- especially as during those four hours he could occupy the post of chairman . Those who knew Major Magruder well did not doubt but that the Committee would sit for many weeks , and that the whole theory of colonial government , or rather of imperial control supervising such government , would be tested to the very utmost . Men who had heard the old Major maunder on for years past on his pet subject , hardly knew how much vitality would be found in him when his maundering had succeeded in giving him a committee .