HC Deb 24 July 1882 vol 272 c1536
MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, When the Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture, which was published in the "Times" of Saturday, will be distributed to Members of this House?

MR. LABOUCHERE

said, the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had assured the House that Reports should not be given to any newspaper before they were distributed to Members. He wished to know whether they might receive the same assurance from the Home Secretary as to the future?

MR. GEORGE HOWARD

wished to ask the right hon. and learned Gentleman whether he himself had received the Report referred to in the Question?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

Sir, the proper course in reference to the Report on Royal Commissions is that they should, in the first instance, be forwarded to Her Majesty, and after a Report has been forwarded to Her Majesty it is presented to this House. The Report in question was received at the Home Office to-day from the Commission, dated the 24th of July. I immediately forwarded it to Her Majesty, and it will be presented to the House this afternoon. I am unable to say how the Report in question was communicated to the newspapers; it was not done by my authority or with my sanction.

MR. MITCHELL HENRY

asked whether the Report published in The Times was correct?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

I have not read either the official Report or the newspaper account of it, so that I am unable to say.