§ MR. MALINSsaid, he wished to ask his hon. and learned Friend the Solicitor General whether it was his intention to proceed with the Bill that night? In conversation with his hon. and learned Friend, he (Mr. Malins) had asked the question, and the reply was that it would not come on that night, and that also was understood by his hon. and learned Friend the Member for East Suffolk (Sir F. Kelly), who had left London to attend a cattle show—[Laughter.]—or agricultural meeting. Hon. Members must be aware that his hon. and learned Friend had agricultural duties to attend to, he being a county Member. He (Mr. Malins) had relied upon the answer given him, and had taken for granted the Bill would not come on that night, but to his great surprise he found, on entering the House, that it was the intention of his hon. and learned Friend opposite to proceed with it. He (Mr. Malins) had come down to the House without his papers, and the facts which he had prepared, and he begged, therefore, to ask his hon. and learned Friend whether he intended to persevere?
THE SOLICITOR GENERALsaid, he was exceedingly sorry that any communication made by him to his hon. and learned Friend should have caused what he would not call a slanderous imputation to be made upon the hon. and learned Member 267 for East Suffolk, who, it appeared, was absent at a cattle show instead of being present in that House. What he (the Solicitor General) had said to his hon. and learned Friend on Tuesday was, that if the debate in which the House was then engaged terminated that evening, the Wills and Administrations Bill would undoubtedly be taken that night. He regretted that some misapprehension had arisen as to what he did say, but his hon. and learned Friend could not say that he was unprepared to discuss the provisions of the Bill when he was generally so well informed on every question before the House.
§ MR. MALINSsaid, if his hon. and learned Friend persisted in going on that night, he should move that the Bill be committed that day three months.
§ On the question that the House resolve itself into a Committee of Supply,