HC Deb 13 March 1893 vol 9 cc1866-7
MR. HANBURY (Preston)

Mr. Speaker, I desire to call the attention of the House to a letter in The Westminster Gazette.

MR. LABOUCHERE (Northampton)

Will the hon. Gentleman allow me for one moment?

MR. HANBURY

The letter appeared in the Westminster Gazette this afternoon, and it would appear to constitute a grave breach of the Privileges of this House. It charges a whole Party in this House with obstruction. What is much more important than that, it impugns your conduct, Sir, as the highest authority controlling the Debates in this House. The paragraphs to which I call attention are the following:— No sane man can honestly maintain that the whole Debate yesterday after the first four speeches was not sheer and obstructive waste of time. If so, why was the closure not permitted? And (2) that obstruction is certainly not likely to decrease so long as Members on our side who move the closure are severely snubbed by the Speaker, as has more than once happened. Now, this sort of thing must be stopped. If Mr. Speaker won't protect the rights of the majority, the majority must protect itself; and I therefore make this suggestion, which I hope our Radical wing will act upon, namely, that every night a certain number of our men shall be told off to be ready, after a certain time devoted to obstruction, to move the closure one after another, at intervals of, say, five or ten minutes. Mr. Speaker would probably refuse a good many; but I doubt if he would continue the policy of snubbing us; and, in either case, the country would know what to think. Unfortunately the hon. Member who wrote this letter (Mr. Conybeare) is not, as I should have thought it his duty, here to-day, and I have not had the opportunity of communicating with him. I do not know, Sir, what your directions may be on this point—whether a Motion of Breach of Privilege ought to be made to-day or to-morrow, but I take it that the preliminary step will be to move, as I now do, that the letter be read at the Table.

MR. LABOUCHERE

I merely wished to interrupt the hon. Gentleman to say that I was requested to state—

MR. SPEAKER

Order, order! The Motion is that the letter be read at the Table, and that must be done before the hon. Member can be heard.

The Clerk then read the letter as follows:—