§ MR. P.A. TAYLORsaid, he hoped the right hon. Gentleman would not press his Motion. It seemed to him not a reasonable thing that the convenience of the House and the business of the country should be, to some extent, damaged in order to meet the view or desire of any section of the House, whether that desire be entertained by a section of the House who wish to go to Church on Ash-Wednesday and on the Derby Day to go to Epsom Downs. He begged to remind the right hon. Gentleman that all tests and religious conditions in regard to admission to that House having been done away with, they were not an assembly of Church of England men, but an assembly of Anglicans, Catholics, Dissenters, Jews, and men of many other opinions too numerous to enumerate. He ventured to suggest to the right hon. Gentleman 902 that it was not reasonable, therefore, that the convenience of the House and the business of the country should be made subservient to the desires of a section of the House, and if the right hon. Gentleman persisted in his Motion, he should certainly divide upon it.
MR. GLADSTONEI am very sorry I cannot accede to the appeal of my hon. Friend. It appears to me that the unreasonableness on this occasion is rather upon the other side. The state of the case is this—It is between 30 and 40 years since the House adopted the practice of meeting at 12 o'clock on Wednesdays, and ever since it had uniformly adopted the practice, also, of meeting at 2 o'clock on Ash-Wednesday. That being so, I think that if my hon. Friend is desirous of raising the question it would be more fairly done by a separate Resolution, because most hon. Members have no doubt expected that this would be an unopposed Motion.
§ Question put.
§ The House divided:—Ayes 222; Noes 56: Majority 166.