§ MR. BYRON REED (Bradford, E.)I wish to ask your permission, Sir, to put a Question to the Secretary to the Board of Trade, of which I have given him private Notice. Perhaps you will permit me to explain, in one sentence, that the reason I adopt this unusual course is because the Question which I wish, with your permission, to put refers 130 to a matter of Privilege, and, therefore, to a matter of urgency. I wish to ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade, whether his attention has been called to the publication, in The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent newspaper, of a summary of the Merchandize Marks Bill, before the measure was in the hands of Members of this House; and whether, in that case, he can inform the House of the source of that journal's information?
§ MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)I would ask, as this is a species of debate, whether the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Sheffield (Brightside) (Mr. Mundella) was informed of what is about to take place? It seems only reasonable to the right hon. Gentleman, as this is a matter that concerns him, that he should have an opportunity of being in his place. I really think that, seeing that it is so unusual for a Question to be asked at this hour, if the right hon. Gentleman did not know it was to be put it should be deferred until he is present.
§ MR. BYRON REEDIn the course of the evening, as soon as I heard what had taken place, I wrote a letter to the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Mundella), and sent it to him by one of the messengers of the House.
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)In answer to the hon. Member for East Bradford I have to say that my attention has been called to the publication of an accurate summary of the Merchandize Marks Bill appearing in The Sheffield and Rotherham Independent of this morning. I have no knowledge of the source from which this information was obtained. I have made strict inquiry at the Board of Trade, and can state that it was not communicated by anyone in that Department. Only a certain very limited number of copies were supplied; they were in the hands of the head of the Department, and can be accounted for as follows:—At the request of the hon. Members for the Brightside (Mr. Anthony J. Mundella), Hallam (Mr. C. B. Stuart-Wortley), Central (Mr. C. E. Howard Vincent), and Ecclesall (Mr. E. Ashmead-Bartlett) Divisions of Sheffield, the President authorized advanced copies to be supplied to them. This was done, and by last night's post two 131 coping were sent to the Cutlers' Company and to the Town Clerk. I may add that these copies could only have been delivered at Sheffield this morning at 8 o'clock. The two remaining copies were in the possession of the President and myself. In order to prevent a breach of the Privileges of this House by the premature publication of a Bill not then in the hands of Members, the President wrote the following Minute, which was endorsed on each copy, and bore the President's signature:—
To be considered as strictly confidential, and not to be communicated, directly or indirectly, to the Press, as such publication has been decided by the House of Commons to be a breach of Privilege.In view of these facts, I thought it my duty to ask the hon. Member for the Central (Mr. Howard Vincent), Hallam (Mr. Stuart-Wortley), and Ecclesall (Mr. Ashmead - Bartlett) Divisions, whether this unauthorized publication was in any way to be attributed to them? I had not the opportunity of asking the right hon. Gentleman the late President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Mundella), Member for the Brightside Division, because I could not find him in his place, else I would have put the same question to him. I have received from the other Gentlemen I have mentioned their positive assurances that such is not the case; and I may add that the Bill in question does not appear in the Conservative organ which is published at Sheffield, nor, so far as I know, in any other newspaper in the United Kingdom.