§ MR. HARDCASTLEsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, On what day it is proposed that the House should adjourn for the Easter Recess, and for what period?
MR. GLADSTONEsaid, the Government had not at present any absolute proposal to make to the House on the subject; but the putting of the Question afforded him an opportunity of stating an arrangement which had occurred to him as calculated to promote the convenience of hon. Members, and. he would mention it in order that hon. Gentlemen might make their feelings known. We had this year a concurrence of two circumstances—we had a very late meeting of Parliament and a remarkably early Easter. It therefore occurred to him that it might be convenient to make a sort of exchange between the Easter and Whitsuntide vacations, by shortening the former and fixing the latter early and lengthening it in proportion, so as not to defraud the House on the general result, and to provide for a longer vacation, when hon. Members should have done more to earn it, and at a more congenial season, which would render it more enjoyable. Unless he had reason to suppose that this arrangement would be inconvenient and disagreeable, his impression was that in the course of a week or ten days he should make a proposal for its adoption.