THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER (THE EARL OF CRAWFORD)Your Lordships are no doubt aware that the Agriculture Bill has not yet passed through the House of Commons, as had been hoped. The House is still sitting, and though many of the Amendments made by your Lordships have been accepted, it is contemplated that the sitting will continue for some time to come. At the end of the sitting the Amendments have to be printed, and it is expected that a couple of hours must elapse between the Bill leaving the House of Commons and its reaching your Lordships for effective consideration. The question that I desire now to put to your Lordships' House as a whole is as to the most convenient hour for us to reassemble in order to deal with that Bill. It is, of course, possible that the Bill might be concluded more quickly than those in charge of it in the House of Commons anti- 900 cipate. I must, however, pay attention to their view, and in the opinion of the Government in the House of Commons the Bill will probably not pass before four or five or possibly six o'clock this afternoon. Supposing it were to pass at four o'clock, your Lordships might take the Bill here at six o'clock. On the other hand, if it does go on as late as five or six o'clock, it seems to me inadvisable to invite your Lordships to take it before dinner. Under those conditions I would suggest that your Lordships should meet after dinner, at nine o'clock to-night, and take the Amendments. I am extremely sorry, my Lords, that I cannot give any more definite guidance, and I therefore invite the opinion of your Lordships on the subject. My own view is that nine o'clock would probably be the most convenient hour; at any rate, that is an hour at which we can reasonably be certain of having the Bill and the Amendments before us. But should your Lordships desire to meet at an earlier and a speculative hour, say six o'clock, we should of course be entirely at the disposal of the House.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy Lords, I need not say that this announcement by His Majesty's Government has taken most of us by surprise. We did not realise that the Bill was going to take so long in another place. But undoubtedly the Bill is a very difficult one, and it is not for us to criticise the method of procedure which prevails in the House of Commons. The noble Earl has suggested to us that we should meet at nine o'clock to-night, but he held out a sort of faint hope that it might possibly happen that the Bill could be dealt with a little earlier than that—namely, at six o'clock. He rightly excluded eight o'clock, which I should think most of your Lordships consider an inconvenient hour for discussion. He said that therefore it lay between six o'clock and nine o'clock. I do not know what your Lordships think, but I should like to take the chance of getting it through at six o'clock.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI do not suppose that your Lordships have very much to do in London at this time of the year, and you would not mind coming down to the House at six o'clock.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI agree entirely with my noble friend as to the immense difficulty in which your Lordships would be placed. I was merely speaking as to the difference between six o'clock and nine o'clock.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy noble friend agrees. It might possibly facilitate his own private arrangements if we sat at six o'clock, and of course he is not singular in that respect. I therefore hope that the Government will agree that your Lordships should reassemble at six o'clock in the hope that we may be able to deal with the Bill then. Of course, we do not know the condition in which the Bill will reach us. We are well aware that in many respects the House of Commons have seen fit to agree with your Lordships' opinions on this Bill, but not with all, as far as we know, and it may easily be that very difficult questions may arise when the Bill comes back for consideration which might take a little time to deal with and might very easily involve sending the Bill back to the House of Commons. I hope that your Lordships will not think, when we separate now, that the reassembling will be merely a form.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYThat I am sure would only end in the views of your Lordships being entirely misconceived, and the legitimate influence of your Lordships on legislation not having its due effect. I would therefore very respectfully impress upon your Lordships that it is absolutely necessary, if we are effectually to deal with this Bill, that there should be a full attendance of your Lordships—I say it with all the diffidence necessary—at six o'clock, and also at nine o'clock if we are compelled to put off our deliberations until then. Subject to that, speaking for myself, I think it would be wise that we should reassemble at six o'clock and do our best to deal with the Bill, and then at nine o'clock if that be necessary.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDI think from the indications of the House that the proposal made by Lord Salisbury is acceptable—namely, that we should now suspend the sitting and reassemble at six o'clock, 902 and if necessary resume at nine o'clock. I may say that my noble colleagues will take precautions to inform all the political clubs when we come here at six o'clock what the prospects are, in order that those of your Lordships who may be in the clubs or accessible to them will be able to get information. The disagreements, we hope, will be very few. So far as the House of Commons have progressed up till now, I gather that your Lordships' views have been accepted almost entirely, and if we may be allowed a certain latitude in dealing with manuscript Amendments of a drafting and non-important character I hope we shall be able to get through our business without undue delay.
§ [The sitting was suspended shortly before one o'clock and resumed at six o'clock.]