§ MR. MUNTZasked the First Lord of the Treasury, If it be the intention of the Government, taking into consideration the extraordinary price of meat, and the serious reduction in the stocks of sheep and cattle, to advise Her Majesty to issue a Royal Proclamation (in accordance with former precedents) enjoining all loyal subjects to abstain from the use of veal and lamb until such time that the stocks of cattle and sheep shall have regained their former numbers?
MR. GLADSTONEI am, Sir, obliged to give a decided answer to my hon. Friend in the negative, at the same time admitting that I have very considerable sympathy with the spirit of his Question. It is not possible, in my opinion, for Her Majesty with any advantage to attempt to issue a Royal Proclamation, which would be in the nature of a Sumptuary Law. It would not be obeyed, and it would tend to bring authority into discredit rather than serve the object in view. Con- 967 sidering the object to be the suppression of gross and needless waste, and the contribution, as far as lies in our power, to an abundance of animal food for the increasing wants of the country, I heartily wish there were any legitimate means by which that purpose could be promoted; but I do not think that a Proclamation of the kind suggested would be either becoming or expedient.