§ SIR F. MILNER (Notts, Bassetlaw)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether, in view of the grave charge he made in his speech on Tuesday against certain Justices of the Peace that they had refused to take declarations from members of the Gladstonian Party, he will give the names of the Justices and state the occasions on which the refusals took place?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER (Mr. BRYCE,) Aberdeen, S.The hon. Member is not entitled to put any such question, and I decline to answer him. Had I brought any charge, grave or otherwise, against any individual, I should feel myself bound to give particulars; but as it appears from the hon. Member's question I did nothing of the sort, I should depart from well-established usage were I to give an answer to the question he has just put.
§ SIR F. MILNERI referred to the speech which the right hon. Gentleman made on Tuesday, in which he distinctly said that certain Justices of the Peace had refused to take declarations from members of the Gladstonian Party.
§ MR. TOMLINSON (Preston)May I ask upon what grounds the right hon. Gentleman claims "well-established 1309 usage" in order to make a wholesale charge without any justification, or to decline to make an answer?
§ MR. BRYCEI made no wholesale charge whatever. I said that I had heard of instances in which Magistrates had refused to take declarations tendered by members of the opposite Party, and I added that I did not bring this as a charge against one political Party, because, as far as I knew, it might be common to both.
§ SIR F. MILNERMay I ask you, Mr. Speaker, whether I should be in Order in putting the Question down on the Paper for to-morrow, and in quoting the words of the right hon. Gentleman as reported in The Times?
§ *MR. SPEAKERIf the hon. Gentleman puts the question on the Paper, and it contains anything irregular, the question will be revised.