HC Deb 19 March 1885 vol 295 cc1703-4
MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Government adhere to the statement of the Secretary of State for India, that the Zulfaga Pass, Ak-Rabat, and Pul-i-Khisti, recently occupied by the Russian Forces, are "within those portions which Her Majesty's Government have regarded as within the Afghan boundaries?"

MR. GLADSTONE

The hon. Member asks me whether Her Majesty's Government agree to a statement made by Lord Kimberley, Secretary of State for India. I am bound to say that I do not think that such a Question ought to be put, and I must decline to answer it.

MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT

I wish to ask you, Sir, whether the supreme decision on points of Order does not rest with you, and not with the right hon. Gentleman? I should like also to point out that the right hon. Gentleman, in quoting the Question, used the word "agree," whereas I asked whether the Government "adhere" to the statement of the Secretary of State for India. Since that statement was made many remarkable things have happened.

MR. SPEAKER

It is entirely within the discretion of the First Lord of the Treasury to decide what answer he shall give.

MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT

Yes, Sir; but I think you have misunderstood me. I did not venture to dispute the right of the Prime Minister to refuse to answer a Question; but I asked for your ruling as to his right to decide whether a Question ought to be put or not.

MR. SPEAKER

If the Question was out of Order I should not have allowed it to be put.

MR. GLADSTONE

Permit me to say that I never suggested that the Question was out of Order. But there are many Questions which, in my opinion, ought not to be put, notwithstanding that they are not out of Order.

MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT

I beg to give Notice—I do so with considerable regret—that, in consequence of the impossibility of obtaining any satisfactory answer from the Government to these important Questions, I shall feel it to be my duty to call attention to the discreditable surrender of the Government of all their demands, and of the rights of their ally, the Ameer of Afghanistan, in the only way at the present time open to private Members, on the first available opportunity.

SIR HENRY TYLER

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether any approximate date can now be fixed for the commencement of the proceedings for a joint delimitation of the Afghan frontier by Sir Peter Lumsden and the Russian Commissioner, or whether the arrival of the Russian Commissioner on the Afghan frontier is no longer expected.

MR. GLADSTONE

I am not able to fix a date, and I think that it had better be understood that when we fix a date we shall communicate it to Parliament.