HC Deb 19 May 1881 vol 261 cc826-7
COLONEL MAKINS

asked the Prime Minister, Whether he was aware that on the Wednesday before Whit Sunday a race meeting would be held near the Metropolis, in which the hon. Baronet the Member for Carlisle (Sir Wilfrid Lawson) and other Members were much interested; and whether it would be by any chance possible to combine the secular and the ecclesiastical holidays.

MR. GLADSTONE

I am afraid that there is no chance of our being able to combine the two holidays. In the present state of Public Business I should not be justified in proposing anything further than the ordinary Whitsuntide holiday—namely, from the Friday preceding Whit Sunday to the following Thursday. Perhaps it would be for the convenience of the House if the House would accede to that arrangement, that we should have a Morning Sitting on the Friday I have mentioned.