§ LORD ROBERT CECILin moving that it be an instruction to the Printing Committee that on every Return ordered to be printed by this House, in addition to the date of the order for printing, there be also printed the date at which such Return was actually sent to press, said his object was to fix the responsibility of the great delays which occasionally took place in the delivery of Returns. For instance, an important mercantile Return ordered on the Motion of the Vice President of the Board of Trade on the 2nd of August, 1858, had only been presented on the 2nd of July last.
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Motion made, and Question proposed,—
That it be an instruction to the Printing Committee, that on every return ordered to be printed by this House, in addition to the date of the order for printing, there be also printed the date at which such Return was actually sent to press.
§ MR. WILSONsaid, that perhaps the noble Lord was not aware that when papers which were ordered were not presented before the close of the Session the order became a dropped order. In order to obviate this inconvenience the practice was to present the papers, and they were then printed during the recess. In printing financial papers there was another reason for the delay, as it was necessary to send them back to the office to examine the figures by other Returns. The Motion, if carried in its present form, would often affix blame very unjustly on the printer, 1075 who was not responsible for the delay in correcting. If the Motion was withdrawn he would be glad to communicate with the noble Lord on the subject.
§ MR. ROEBUCKwished to ask the right hon. Gentleman a question. Many most useless Returns and Reports were printed at a great expense, and he would suggest that a check might be put upon such waste by endorsing on each printed Return the cost of the printing.
§ MR. WILSONNo doubt such information would be extremely desirable, and he, as a member of the Printing Committee and of that House, would be very glad if the suggestion of the hon. and learned Gentleman could be adopted; but he was afraid that until it was known how many copies of a Return were to be printed the printer would not be able to state what the cost would be.
§ MR. BLACKBURNsaid, that if the Motion stood "corrected Return," no blame could attach to the printer.
§ LORD ROBERT CECILsaid, he would withdraw the Motion for the present, and communicate with the right hon. Gentleman on the subject.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.