§ MR. E. ROBERTSON (Dundee)I wish to ask the First Lord of the Treasury a Question with reference to a large number of Blocking Notices which appear on the Paper to-day against Scotch Bills, in the name of the hon. Baronet the Member for Wigtonshire (Sir Herbert Maxwell). It will be convenient to know whether these Notices imply that the Government intends to oppose the Bills against which blocks have been placed?
§ MR. HENRY H. FOWLER (Wolverhampton, E.)I should also like to ask whether it was not laid down from the Chair two or three years ago that systematic blocking, by one Member, of a 1694 large number of Bills is a violation of the Rules of the House?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)I have not seen the Bills to which the hon. Member refers; but if he will give me Notice, I shall put myself in a position to give him an answer. I should say, as a rule, that the blocks put on the Paper by Members of the Government are rather given in view of the necessity of discussing them at an hour when the Bills can be discussed than to be taken as a distinct Notice of opposition. As to the Question of the right hon. Member for East Wolverhampton (Mr. Henry H. Fowler), I am not aware whether such a ruling was given or not.