§ MR. BOULNOISI beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works why the Royal Standard or Union Jack was not hoisted on Thursday upon the Victoria Tower in honour of the Royal Marriage?
§ MR. THEOBALD (Essex, Romford)May I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman does not consider that he was not able to hoist the Royal Standard, seeing that at the time he was busily engaged in the process of eliminating from it the Irish quarter?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. SHAW LEFEVRE, Bradford, Central)The Houses of Parliament being a Royal Palace and not a Government Office, the responsibility of hoisting a flag thereon rests with the Lord Great Chamberlain. I am informed by the secretary to that functionary that the rule has been to hoist a flag on the Victoria Tower only on occasions when the Queen herself has been in the building or within its precincts.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOUR (Manchester, E.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury when he proposes, in accordance with Parliamentary usage, to move an Address to Her Majesty, and Messages to the Prince and Princess of Wales, expressing the congratulations and sympathy of this House on the occasion of the Royal Marriage?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. W. E. GLADSTONE, Edinburgh, Midlothian)The matter is now under the consideration of the Government, and the result will be made known. I may add that the course of precedents is not quite uniform.