§ MR. H. T. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN (Kent, Faversham)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the largo and increasing expenditure of time consumed by the putting and answering of questions, many of them involving matters of no public importance, the Government will consider the possibility of dealing with this serious hindrance to public business by restricting the number of questions to be put by any one Member; by not allowing- a question to be put by proxy or to be put a second time, should the Member putting it on the Paper not be in his place when called upon; by limit- 1651 ing the number of questions to be put to a fixed number, Members to ballot for places, except in the case of a question asked by special leave of Mr. Speaker; or by fixing a certain time, say half an hour, as the time permitted for questions?
§ MR. W. H. SMITHI am quite sensible of the great waste of time that takes place in consequence of the great increase in the number of questions; but I am afraid the only way of altering the present system would be by new Rules of Procedure, and the time will not admit of such a course.
§ MR. J. MORLEY (Newcastle-upon-Tyne)On this subject may I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he has considered the suggestion made to him the other day that the Irish Constabulary Vote should be taken on an early day?
§ MR. W. H. SMITHI do not know whether that question arises out of this, but I will endeavour to make arrangements for taking the Irish Constabulary "Vote as soon as possible consistently with the other business.