§ MR. LAIRDasked the First Lord of the Treasury, If Her Majesty's Government will during the recess consider whether it may not be possible to lay upon the Table the Navy, Army, and other Estimates as soon as the House 1653 meets, and to proceed to the consideration of, and passing them before any other Government Business of importance is proceeded with, so as to avoid in future voting the large amount of money involved in the Estimates under pressure of time at the end of the Session, and at a period when a great majority of the Members have left town?
MR. GLADSTONEIn the first place, Sir, I may say there is a great difficulty with regard to the preparation of a portion of the Estimates. As for the Navy and Army Estimates, they are prepared and laid upon the Table as soon as the House meets; but with regard to the Civil Service Estimates the present practice is as follows:—The appropriation accounts of the preceding financial year are considered by the Committee on Public Accounts after the commencement of each Session. That consideration by the Committee considerably assists in guiding the Treasury in the preparation of the Estimates for the coming year. This in itself would therefore be a serious impediment in the way of laying the Civil Service Estimates on the Table of the House at the commencement of the Session. But I must also say with regard to the general question, that I do not think it would be practicable, or, at all events, it would not be desirable or convenient that the whole of the Estimates should take precedence of all the important legislative business of the Session. One of the difficulties of our Parliamentary system is how to regulate the distribution of business between legislation and the voting of the Estimates in the very limited time at the disposal of the Government in the early part of each year. If the Estimates are not voted, we encounter the inconvenience, this year of a serious character, which arises from taking them at a late period. But if the whole of the time at the disposal of the Government for the first two or three months of the year is occupied in voting the Estimates, it is evident that the greatest possible difficulties will make themselves felt in sending legislative measures to the House of Lords in time to insure their being satisfactorily considered. The difficulty is a serious one, and I am not aware of any way in which it can be coped with, except in detail. During one year the Civil Service Estimates were, I know, laid on the Table at the beginning of the Ses- 1654 sion; but that was before the present Appropriation and Audit Act was in force.