§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTON (Shropshire, Oswestry)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether, having referred in the House to an official document relating to public affairs—namely, Mr. O. M. Edwards's Report on the Welsh Colleges, and in view of the fact that a Petition for the Incorporation of a Welsh University awaits the sanction of the House, he will lay Mr. Edwards's Report in its entirety upon the Table, in accordance with the rule that an official document referred to by a Minister must be produced?
§ MR. ACLANDIf I understand the hon. Member's point it is this. He asked me a question yesterday as to a confidential Report which I have never cited, road from, or quoted in any speech in this House. It was therefore necessary for me to allude to it yesterday in answer to a definite question from him on the subject. He now suggests that, in consequence of this allusion, I am bound to lay the Report on the Table. The plan is ingenious, but it does not seem to be in accordance with the Rule of the House. I am unable to lay the Report on the Table.
§ * MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONMay I call your attention to this matter, Mr. Speaker, as a point of Order. The right hon. Gentleman referred to the document in question in this way. He did not state that it was confidential and refuse to refer to it at all, as the Chief Secretary for Ireland did to-day in another case, but he said—
I do not propose to lay it on the Table, but I am quite willing to inform the bon. Gentleman that the Report consisted mainly of information rather than recommendations;and then the right hon. Gentleman went on to say—Mr. Edwards did not report in favour of the inclusion of St. David's College, Lampeter, in the Welsh Universities.That was the very point. I understand from those words of the right hon. Gentleman that Mr. Edwards reported in favour of the exclusion of the College from the scheme, but his words are ambiguous. I beg leave to ask your ruling, Mr. Speaker, on the following point. In May's Parliamentary Practice it is stated — 1778It has been admitted that a document which has been cited ought to be laid upon the Table of the House, if it can be done without injury to the public interest.The document I asked for is an official document, which has been referred to and cited, and it is not pretended that it would be injurious to the public interest if it were produced. I wish to ask whether it is in accordance with the practice of the House that the right hon. Gentleman should refer to a document which at the time he does not say is confidential, and should afterwards refuse to lay it on the Table on the ground that it is confidential?
§ * MR. SPEAKERThe general rule of the House is well understood, that if a Minister refers to public documents or Despatches he should lay them before the House; but confidential documents, or documents of a private nature passing between officers of a Department and the Department, are not necessarily laid on the Table of the House, especially if the Minister declares that they are of a confidential nature. It would be a precedent dangerous to the Public Service to say that they ought to be laid. As I understand, what passed in this case was that the right hon. Gentleman only quoted a document so far as to say that Mr. Edwards did not report in favour of the inclusion of Lampeter College, and I think the House may take the word of a Minister when he says that the document was not confidential to that extent. If the right hon. Gentleman the Vice President of the Council now says that the document is generally of a confidential nature, I have no hesitation in saying that he is not bound to lay the document on the Table.