§ MR. CALLAN, having on the Paper the following Notice—"To ask the hon. Member for North Warwickshire, Whether the signature affixed to the Petition in favour of the Monastic and Conventual Institutions Bill, from Newark, Leicestershire, has been affixed by him, or by any person authorised on his be half to do so; and, whether the alleged forged signature to the Petition from Chatham, which the hon. Member has disowned, is not in the same handwriting as that appended to the Petition from Newark and the rejected Petitions from Broad stairs, Kensington, and Avebury?"
§ MR. SPEAKERWith reference to the Question on the Paper, of which Notice has been given by the hon. Member for Dundalk, I have to point out to him that that Question applies specifically to a Motion of which he has given Notice, and which stands on the Orders as to the Monastic and Conventual Institutions Bill (Chatham Petition);and, according to the practice of the House, it would not be regular to anticipate by a Question the discussion of the Motion of which Notice has been given.
§ MR. CALLANThat being so, I beg to ask the hon. Member for North Warwickshire the Question of which I have given Notice.
§ MR. SPEAKERI have to point out to the hon. Member that the latter part of that Question is out of Order, as it applies to the Motion of which the hon. Member has given Notice.
§ MR. CALLANI will leave out Chatham altogether.
§ MR. SPEAKERThe first part of the Question the hon. Member is entitled to put; the latter part is out of Order.
§ MR. CALLANI beg, then, to put the first part of the Question to the hon. Member for North Warwickshire.
§ MR. NEWDEGATEWhat do you ask?
§ MR. CALLANI have to ask the hon. Member for North Warwickshire whether the signature affixed to the Petition in favour of the Monastic and Conventual Institutions Bill from Newark, Leicestershire, has been affixed by him or by any person authorised on his behalf to do so?
§ MR. NEWDEGATEInasmuch as it would be impossible for me to explain the circumstances which must form part of my answer within the limits assigned to an ordinary Question put in the House, I must defer that answer until the adjournment of the House has been moved.
§ MR. DISRAELII move that the House, at its rising, do adjourn until Monday, the 24th April.
§ MR. NEWDEGATEThe course pursued by the hon. Member for Dundalk with reference to the Notice he has given has been so unusual that it is impossible I could fairly answer his Question unless I have an opportunity of explaining all the circumstances connected with my part in the transaction to which the Question refers. It will be in the recollection of the House that on Thursday last you, Sir, called my attention to a Petition from Chatham to which I found my signature, or what purported to be my name though it was mis-spelt, had been attached. I had never seen that Petition, but finding that my name was mis-spelt I concluded that it had been improperly attached without my authority, and I moved that the Order for its reception be discharged as a Question of Privilege. On Friday I found that the hon. Member for Dundalk had given Notice for a Committee of Inquiry into my conduct with respect to that Petition. Everything in which I am concerned with these Petitions is one transaction; and when the hon. Member came down and called the attention of the House to three similar Petitions to which my name was attached as a Question of Privilege, I was not in a position then to say whether my name had been attached 1559 to the Petitions from Broadstairs, Kensington, and Avebury by any person having my authority.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI have already stated to the hon. Member for Dundalk that putting a Question anticipating the discussion on a Motion fixed for consideration at a future time is against the practice of the House. The hon. Member for North Warwickshire is now discussing a matter relating to that Motion, and I am bound to lay down the same rule with respect to him as with regard to the hon. Member for Dundalk—that any discussion of the subject of a Motion set down for a future time is premature and opposed to the practice of the House.
§ MR. NEWDEGATEI bow, Sir, to your decision; I wished you to judge whether my explanation could come within the Rule which you have laid down; and I defer my remarks until the Motion of the hon. Member for Dundalk comes on.