MR. ALDERMAN W. LAWRENCE, in rising to move, pursuant to Notice—
That it is advisable that the Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster be placed under the control and management of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues, and that the Commissioners be represented in Parliament by a First Commissioner of Woods and Forests in the same manner as the Department of Her Majesty's Works and Public Buildings is now represented by a First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings; and 322 also that the office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster be abolished,said, he held that there were three great Crown properties—namely, the Duchy of Lancaster, the Duchy of Cornwall, and the lands and revenues commonly called the Woods and Forests and Land Revenues of the Crown. Those properties were all placed under different constitutions, treated in different ways, and their revenues appropriated to different purposes; yet they must be regarded as Crown properties, over which the nation had different methods of exercising its rights in respect to them. As the accounts of the Duchy of Lancaster were annually placed before them, and also before the Treasury, the House was perfectly justified in going into these matters. The revenues of the Duchy were not so large as those of the other Crown properties, for in 1870 the actual receipts were £42,722—
§ MR. SPEAKERI am not aware whether the hon. Member proposes to make a Motion. A Minister has assented to the Motion of the hon. Member for Salford, for a Select Committee to inquire as to the best means of preventing the destruction of the lives of infants put out to nurse for hire by their parents. That Question being assented to, the Question that I now leave the Chair is superseded.
MR. ALDERMAN W. LAWRENCEBut the Question was not put from the Chair; and although my observations may not be relevant to the Question brought forward by the hon. Member for Salford, yet, the Question not having been put, I am not aware that I am out of Order.
§ MR. CAVENDISH BENTINCKrose to Order. A compact was entered into in 1860 between the Government and the independent Members that, as soon as an Amendment was disposed of, it was the duty of the Government to revive the ordinary Motion to go into the Committee of Supply. If that were done, the hon. Member for the City of London would be at liberty to proceed with his Motion; and should that be negatived, it would be competent for any other Member to speak to the ordinary Question that the Speaker do now leave the Chair.
§ MR. SPEAKERThe original Question was, that I do now leave the Chair. To that the hon. Member for Salford 323 moved an Amendment that a Select Committee should be appointed to inquire as to the best means of preventing the destruction of the lives of infants put out to nurse for hire by their parents. That Amendment was assented to by the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The adoption of the Amendment supersedes the Question That I do now leave the Chair. But, certainly, it is a course which has been followed on previous occasions that under such circumstances the Government should revive the Motion for the Committee of Supply.
§ After a short pause,
MR. GLADSTONEsaid: I wish to state that there is a difficulty in this particular case. My opinion is, that the Motion is one as to which the Government can hardly exercise any option in order to promote a discussion, because it relates to a matter that is not the subject of a compact between the Crown and Parliament. The affairs of the Duchy of Lancaster are entirely under the control of the Crown, subject to certain conditions. Even if it is optional on the part of the Government—and I conceive that the Motion of my hon. Friend is scarcely a regular one, and one which, I think, the House on its merits would scarcely entertain—I should feel very great difficulty in exercising that discretion. It is, I think, beyond the usages of the House to address the Crown upon matters which have not been made matter of compact between the Sovereign and the Parliament. That part of the Motion which relates to the Woods and Forests is, I think, perfectly relevant; and if my hon. Friend sees the difficulty, and will withdraw that portion of his Motion which relates to the Duchy of Lancaster, and if it be a matter of good faith on the part of the Government to renew the Motion for going into Committee of Supply, of course I am quite willing to act upon that.