§ MR. KENYON (Denbigh, &c.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether there are any specific reasons why questions relating to the tenure of land in Wales should not be referred to the Committee which is to be nominated by the President of the Board of Agriculture instead of to a Royal Commission; whether the Government still adheres to its intention to appoint a Royal Commission; and, if so, when the names of the Commissioners will be made public; and whether he will undertake that the Chairman of the Commission shall have an accurate and complete knowledge of the Welsh language?
§ MR. W. E. GLADSTONEThe Government have been busy with the preliminary arrangements connected with the issue of a Commission. As to the question of the alternative between a Commission and a Committee, I believe I am correct in saying that the public sentiment of Wales is very strongly indeed in favour of a Commission, and that one of the reasons on which that sentiment is founded is the difference of language, for which it is much more difficult to make provision in a Committee than on a Commission. The Government have adopted the sentiment of Wales on this point. We have made progress in considering the names of those who shall compose the Commission, and I hope no long time will elapse before we are able to announce them, together with the Instruction to the Commission. As respects the last part of the question of the hon. Gentle- 195 man, we do not agree with him that the Chairman of the Commission should he specially marked out as a person intimately acquainted with both languages. What we do think is that there ought to be ample provision made in the composition of the Commission for a full command of the Welsh language, so that no inconvenience may accrue to any of the parties in respect of the tongue.