§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHLast week the Prime Minister intimated that, in the circumstances which then existed, he hoped the Transvaal debate might be taken on Monday next. May I now ask whether he is able to make any definite statement on the subject?
MR. GLADSTONEI should reply to the right hon. Baronet with pain and almost with shame, were it not that he is as cognizant of the facts of the case as I am. It was not an unreasonable hope that we should have finished the Committee on the Land Law (Ireland) Bill during the present week. I still hope that we may be able to finish it by next week, though I cannot predict anything with confidence. The first moment that is at our disposal shall be given to the right hon. Baronet; but as a good many questions are still open, in which great interest is felt in more than one quarter of the House, it is possible that these questions may lead to a little prolongation of the debates. As many Friends of the right hon. Baronet may take part in the coming discussions, it is possible that an important influence may be introduced by consultation among his Friends as to the policy and expediency of prolonging the discussions. If we should be so happy as to finish the Committee by Wednesday next, Thursday will be at the disposal of the right hon. Baronet. The absolute necessities of the Public Service will compel us to ask for a further Vote on Account on Monday night. We shall propose to report Progress at a little earlier hour than usual, 1010 perhaps a little before midnight, in order to submit the Vote to the House. Any time except the time occupied by the debate on the Transvaal will be given to Supply.
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHWith the indulgence of the House, I should like to say what course it appears to me to be necessary to take after the answer of the Prime Minister. What I am about to say I do not say at all by way of complaint against the Government. I am sensible, as we all are, of the difficult circumstances with which they have had to deal. But the answer of the right hon. Gentleman appears to me to leave the date at which this debate may take place in a state of most absolute uncertainty. Important questions still remain to be discussed in the Committee on the Land Law (Ireland) Bill, and I cannot conceive it at all probable that the Committee on the Bill will be concluded by the day named. Therefore, what the right hon. Gentleman has said appears to me to amount to an indefinite postponement of the Motion of which I have given Notice. I gave that Notice more than three months ago, in the hope that an early discussion might take place, and I have done my best to bring about that result. I think hon. Members will admit that the failure to bring on the debate has been due to no fault of mine. Unquestionably the delay, for which I do not wish to blame anyone, has prejudiced the Motion of which I have given Notice. After the middle of July it is almost impossible to obtain the definite judgment of a full House on a question of this importance. On the other hand, I am bound to say I should not be justified, after what has taken place within the last few days, in pressing the right hon. Gentleman to allow me to bring this Motion forward before the Committee on the Bill is concluded. Therefore, in the circumstances, looking also to the fact, which is a fact of undoubted importance, that we have reason to suppose the inquiry of the Royal Commissioners in the Transvaal will, before long, be concluded, and its results announced to the House, it is my intention to consult with those with whom I am in the habit of acting as to whether we shall not be able in some other way, and, perhaps, at a still later period of the Session, to bring on the debate, which I 1011 am sure every Member of the House would desire before the Session is concluded.
MR. GLADSTONEI need not say I do not rise for the purpose of finding fault with anything said by the right hon. Baronet. On the contrary, I rise to render to him a just tribute as to the temper and tone in which all that he has addressed to the House, from time to time, on this subject has been urged. I can assure him that, for my part, I never had a more difficult, critical, or painful question than the question of my duty in regard to his Motion. It has been one of the most nicely balanced matters that have occurred to me in connection with the Business of this House. Had the right hon. Gentleman pressed me definitely I might, perhaps, have gone further; but as matters now stand, having made this deserved acknowledgment to him, I feel it is better to wait until he is in a condition to communicate the further results of consultation with his Friends.