§ MR. BLAKEasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether he will receive the Members representing Irish Maritime Counties who wished to lay personally before the Treasury their views respecting the desirability of renewing the advances in aid of local efforts towards the construction of Fishery Harbours; and, if so, if he will be so good as to state on what day it will suit his convenience?
MR. GLADSTONE, in reply, said, he had written to the hon. Member on the subject, and he was in hopes that he would not have put the Question. He thought that the hon. Gentleman must see that he had been exposed to a considerable amount of extra labour owing to the Resolutions then under consideration; and he must, therefore, decline to undertake to give an answer to the hon. Gentleman's Question in the affirmative.
§ MR. BLAKEsaid, that he understood, on a former occasion, the right hon. Gentleman said it was impossible for him to receive such deputations during the pressure of the Parliamentary Session. ["Order, order!"]
§ MR. SPEAKERThe hon. Gentleman is not in Order in debating an answer.
§ MR. BLAKEAll I was going to ask was whether the right hon. Gentle- 123 man would receive them during the Recess?
MR. GLADSTONEsaid, the hon. Member had misunderstood him. What he said was that he would see, during the Sittings of the House, whether he should be able to receive the deputation referred to by the hon. Member. But the hon. Member might know, or suppose, that the consequence of this Session was to throw other Business into arrear; and he was not, therefore, at liberty to make any engagement of the kind requested at the present moment.