§ MR. PERKS (Lincolnshire, Louth)I wish to ask the Chairman of the Committee of Selection a question of which I have given him private notice. It is, whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Select Committee on Police and Sanitary Regulations Bills, which consists of nine Members, was unable to form a quorum on Tuesday and Wednesday last to consider a Bill appointed to be taken on those days; whether the Blackpool Improvement Bill, which was fixed for Tuesday and subsequently for Wednesday, was consequently postponed until Tuesday next; whether a large number of provincial witnesses, who had come up to town to give evidence before the Committee, were obliged to return to the country without being heard; and whether in future, when the Committee appoints a day for hearing Private Bills, 253 they will take some effective steps to secure a quorum?
§ SIR JOHN R. MOWBRAY (Oxford University)The matters referred to in the question of the hon. Member are not such as come under my special cognizance its Chairman of the Committee of Selection. I believe the facts are as stated, and that no quorum of the Police and Sanitary Committee was formed on Tuesday or Wednesday. The Committee of Selection appointed that Committee on March 3, in pursuance of a Resolution of the House passed on March 1. Their duty with respect to that Committee is to select nine Members, who choose their own Chairman, determine the order in which the Bills are taken, and regulate their own proceedings. A largo proportion of the Members appointed this year are experienced Members of the House, who have served on the Committee in former Parliaments. It is much to be regretted that the promoters of the Blackpool Bill suffered inconvenience, but the Police and Sanitary Committee is now fully constituted, and I believe that an adequate attendance of Members will be secured on Tuesday next, and there is every prospect of the business referred to that Committee being transacted with promptitude and despatch