MR. JAMES LOWTHER (Kent, Thanet)May I take this opportunity of asking the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he proposes to lay upon the Table the official Report of Mr. Justice Gibson's Charge to the Grand Jury at Ennis?
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)Will the right hon. Gentleman not consider the propriety of laying upon the Table the Charges of the Judges in the three Counties of Clare, Limerick, and Kerry, which together form what the right hon. Gentleman has described as a dark area?
MR. J. MORLEYI understand that the Judge's Charge at Ennis was moved for last night in another place, and that its production was agreed to. In these circumstances, if the right hon. Gentleman opposite will move for it the document will be laid at once on the Table of the House. I cannot accede to the wish of the hon. Member for South Tyrone, and do not see what purpose would be served, by the production of all the Judicial Charges referred to.
MR. JAMES LOWTHERI did not propose to make any Motion of the kind. My contention is that the right hon. Gentleman is bound to lay on the Table Mr. Justice Gibson's Charge at Ennis, as he quoted from it in the House.
MR. J. MORLEYThe right hon. Gentleman has not quite accurately stated what happened. He said he should move for the document, and the hon. and learned Member for Louth intimated that he would oppose any such Motion. Then the right hon. Gentleman declared that he would, if the Motion were opposed, claim the document as a Return under the Rules of the House. I have been awaiting the right hon. Gentleman's call.
MR. JAMES LOWTHERThe term I used was "claim," not "move." I said it was the duty of the right hon. Gentleman to lay the document on the Table.
MR. J. MORLEYDo I understand the right hon. Gentleman to claim the production under the Rules of the House?
MR. J. MORLEYI have no doubt it will be laid on the Table, but I am bound to point out that it is setting a bad precedent—and an undesirable precedent in matters of this kind. I submit—although I am not going to press the point on this occasion—that to call for the production of a document which a Minister has quoted, not to fortify his argument, but simply to correct a misquotation by the hon. Member for South Tyrone, does not come under the Rule quoted by the right hon. Gentleman, and I am not sure that I should be justified in complying with his demand.
MR. JAMES LOWTHERI can only say, in explanation of my action in the matter, that one of the first lessons taught me in official life was never to quote a document unless I was prepared to lay it on the Table.
MR. J. MORLEYI did not quote it; I referred to it merely to correct the hon. Member for South Tyrone, who has since admitted that he made a misquotation.
§ MR. SEXTONI beg to give notice that if any single Charge, or extract from a single Charge, is laid upon the Table, I shall move that all the Assize Charges of the Judges be similarly laid, in order to show that, in the opinion of the Judges, the state of Ireland generally is satisfactory.
§ SIR C. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)May I ask whether, when a Minister quotes not from an official Report of a Judge's Charge, but from a report that appears in the newspapers, any Member of this House is entitled to ask for an official Report which the Minister had not in his possession?
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLBut in this case the Chief Secretary did quote from an official Report of the Judge's Charge.
§ MR. SPEAKERI think the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary is right in saying it would be a strained interpretation of the Rule to say that, because he quoted the actual textual Charge of the Judge on a particular point, he should lay the whole document on the Table of the House. The right hon. Gentleman did consult me on this point, and I said he could lay it on the Table at once, or he might await a Motion on the subject.
MR. JAMES LOWTHERI understand it has been laid on the Table in the other House. The right hon. Gentleman, having referred to the document as an official Report taken by an official note-taker, I hold it comes within the category of documents which ought to be produced without a Motion on my part.
MR. J. MORLEYI am afraid that, after what the Speaker has been good enough to say, I must still press the right hon. Gentleman to give notice of Motion.