§ MR. JOHNSTONasked the First Lord of the Treasury, If he will lay upon the Table of the House the Correspondence on the Irish Question, invited in his letter to Lord de Vesci, that will have taken place before the 1st of April, in order that facilities may be afforded for forming an opinion on the question of Irish Legislation, in the same manner as enjoyed by the Government?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. E. GLADSTONE)There are two reasons why I cannot give a simple affirmative 1916 answer to this Question. One is that much of the Correspondence would be of a private and miscellaneous character—by private I mean representing only the opinions of private individuals. The other reason is, that the communications which I may receive may, in many cases, be in other forms than writing. They may be oral, and therefore I cannot answer in the affirmative. I have no doubt, however, that there will be representations—as, indeed, there have already been—from public bodies, some of which it may be expedient to place before the House. That I will consider.