MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if he can state whether the words "an executive Committee of the Privy Council of Ireland," as used in Clause 5, Section 2, of the Irish Government Bill, 1893, imply certain members of that Privy Council to whom the Council has itself committed certain matters, or whether the committal to this Committee of such matters is to be the act of some authority other than the Privy Council itself?
§ MR. W. E. GLADSTONEI apprehend that the natural form in which a Committee of the Council would be appointed would be by an Order in 333 Council, but that is a pure matter of form. The actual selection of a Committee of Council is never made, so far as I know, by the Council itself, but it is the function of the Executive Government. That is the practice in Ireland hitherto, and I presume it will be the same under the Home Rule Bill.