MR. J. E. ELLISI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the report of the proceedings of the Select Committee on Royal Grants in the Times of yesterday was authorized and accurate; and, if not, whether, in view of the inconvenience arising from these surreptitious disclosures, care will be taken that an authorized and accurate record of the proceedings of the Committee is preserved and laid before the House with the Report?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHThe hon. Gentleman must be quite aware that the Report he refers to is not authorized, and cannot be accurate. I regret that a report of the proceedings of a Committee, to which the Press are not admitted, should by any accident in any way get into the newspapers. It is obvious that no authority whatever can be attached to such a report. As to the proceedings of the Committee, the usual course will be followed. The Committee will decide on the Report which they desire to present to the House, but there is no precedent whatever for a record of the proceedings of the Committee being given to the House. And it would be an exceedingly inconvenient course if any departure from precedent were made in the publication of the Report of this Committee or any other. I believe that it is of the greatest importance that hon. Members in Committees should be able to express their opinions with perfect freedom and confidence, such as has hitherto prevailed in Committees of this House.
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHThe Committee has not yet completed its deliberations, but I hope it may finish its labours to- 735 morrow. In that case the Report will be brought up to-morrow and considered on Monday.