LORD STRATHEDEN AND CAMPBELLMy Lords, I feel bound at this hour to give a word of explanation as to the withdrawal from the Paper of a Notice which stood in my name, to call attention to the proceedings of the Colonial Conference in 1887 and move a Resolution. It was my full intention to bring before the House a question which has lately, and indeed, for the last two years, particularly occupied me. It is withdrawn for the present only at the repeated instance of the noble Lord who presides over the Department it relates to (Lord Knutsford), and who thinks discussing it might lead to inconvenience during questions he is forced officially to handle. It is a rule to yield to a Department on a request of that description. Not to do so involves too much responsibility, and might be fatal to the object of a Motion. The subject cannot be abandoned, and if it was by me it would unavoidably be urged from other quarters on the Government.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Lord KNUTSFORD)said, he entirely concurred with the noble Lord, and thanked him for having at his request, and on the ground of public convenience, withdrawn for the time this Motion. He thought it very desirable that the full effects of the Colonial Conference last year should be ascertained before a further discussion as to the best means of more closely uniting the Colonies to the Mother Country should be raised in this or the other House of Parliament, and he was therefore obliged to the noble Lord for his kindness in postponing the Motion.