§ MR. MILNER GIBSONsaid, he wished to take that opportunity of making an inquiry of the right hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The noble Lord at the head of the Government, in addressing the House on Tuesday, intimated the importance of having in the present Session a very early financial statement. It had been, he believed, the practice to defer the financial statement until the principal Votes had been taken in Committee of Supply on the Army and Navy Estimates. But as the Estimates, he believed, were prepared, and must by the order of Parliament be laid before the House within a week after the first Committee of Supply, he wished to know whether there was any reason why the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not at once, or at a very early day, give the House the general views of the Government upon the expenditure and income of the country for the year commencing April next. He, for one, really felt that, being likely to be asked to give his vote on large questions of taxation, he should be far better able to form a just opinion as to how to give those votes if he were in possession of the general views of the Government. But he did not mean to say that the postponement of the financial statement of Her Majesty's Ministers could for a moment be considered sufficient reason to prevent private Members asking the House of Commons for their opinion on any particular tax.
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, the earliest day consistent with the forms of the House, on which the Army and Navy Estimates could be presented was Tuesday next. On that day he believed his right hon. Friend the First Lord of the Admiralty would lay on the table of the House the Navy Estimates. The Army Estimates were in a very forward state, and would be produced in the course of next week. Those two classes of Esti- 253 mates would be presented without loss of time, and would speedily be in the hands of Members. He should be ready on the earliest day, consistent with the course of public business and the convenience of the House, and having regard to precedent and usage which distinguished their proceedings, to lay before them the financial plans of the Government; but he felt a difficulty in fixing any day before the Army and Navy Estimates were laid upon the table. He should be prepared on Monday or Tuesday, or, at all events, on one of the first days of next week, to name the day on which he should make the financial statement, or for taking into consideration the Army and Navy Estimates.
§ SIR HENRY WILLOUGHBYsaid, he did not quite understand whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be prepared to make his statement before the Army and Navy Estimates were passed, or whether he would wait until those Estimates were passed.
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, he understood his right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester (Mr. M. Gibson) to express a decided opinion that it was desirable that the financial statement should be made before considering the Army and Navy Estimates. His answer was that he was unable to state the intentions of the Government with regard to priority in the consideration of those matters, but that he would on Monday or Tuesday state the course which the Government intended to pursue with respect to submitting the financial statement before the Army and Navy Estimates, or in the reverse order.