§ MR. SUMMERS (Huddersfield)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the Government will consider the advisability of framing and submitting to the Council of Government in Malta a project of Law recognising civil marriage as valid, and allowing the parties to a civil marriage to add thereto such ecclesiastical forms as they may prefer?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHThis important question is receiving the careful consideration of Her Majesty's Government.
§ MR. SUMMERSI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, in virtue of what authority is the Government of Malta empowered to grant licences to Protestant ministers to celebrate marriages in that island?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHWe are not aware of any written authority for the grant by the Government of Malta of licences to Protestant ministers to celebrate marriages in that island. The practice appears to rest on custom.