HC Deb 07 December 1893 vol 19 cc651-2
MR. DARLING

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury who will discharge the administrative duties of Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland during the absence from the United Kingdom of the actual Chief Secretary; and who will be primarily answerable in this House for the conduct of the Irish Executive?

MR. W.E. GLADSTONE

The hon. and learned Gentleman is perhaps under some misapprehension. It is perfectly true my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland is under most imperative medical orders—which I am sorry to say would involve the most serious responsibility on his part to neglect—has gone abroad, having made every preparation for it, for the space of, I believe, two or three weeks; but he does not on that account cease to administer the duties of his Office. The telegraph in urgent cases affords him nearly the same opportunity of action in Dublin as he would have from London; and in cases where the post is employed, although there is a further delay of a day each way, yet that delay is not a very serious one. My right hon. Friend did appear in this House about 10 days or a fortnight ago, but his appearance was due to his public spirit and not to the state of his strength.

MR. DARLING

Arising out of that question—["Oh, oh!"]—I am sure no one will more deeply and sympathetically regret the absence of the right hon. Gentleman than I do; but, at the same time, I would ask the Leader of the House if he would answer the second part of my question, which I do not think he dealt with, which is—Who will be primarily responsible in this House for the conduct of the Irish Executive during the absence of the Chief Secretary?

MR. W. E. GLADSTONE

As regards the giving of information to this House, I thought the question would have been answered by the fact that my right hon. Friend near me, the Chancellor of the Duchy, has actually been answering questions for the Chief Secretary. As for responsibility for the acts of my right hon. Friend, that responsibility rests with the Government, and I myself, and I believe every one of my colleagues, are perfectly ready to assume it.