§ MR. H. O. ARNOLD-FORSTERI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, whether he can give a date for the taking of the Army Estimates; and whether any opportunity will be given, during the present Session, of discussing the statement made by the Secretary of State with respect to the reorganisation of the War Office?
§ SIR W. HARCOURT (Monmouthshire, W.),who was received with loud cheers, said: Before this question is answered, I wish to put to the Government a question on a matter of great consequence affecting our proceedings. I should like to ask the Leader of the House whether it is in accordance with what I have always understood to be 905 the practice of the House of Commons, that a statement of a very important change in the administration of the Army—[Cheers]—perhaps as important a change as has ever been proposed—should have been made in the other House of Parliament, and not made simultaneously in the House of Commons. [Cheers.] The House of Commons has a right that the statement should be made here at least as soon as—[An hon. MEMBER: "Sooner!"]—it is made in the other House, and that we should not have to learn from a newspaper the course which the Government are about to take in matters of that kind? [Cheers.]
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.I am not sure that the right hon. Gentleman is correct in his statement. I should have thought that the right of the administration of the Department of the Government concerned to make the statement in the House to which he belongs, has never been questioned. I may, however, say that it was largely for the convenience of this House that the statement in question was made by my noble Friend, the Secretary of State for War. It would not have been in accordance with our rules to make a statement of that kind in this House until the Estimates affecting the Department came on for consideration. It is, moreover, inconvenient for a Minister to get up and make a statement of policy in the midst of other business. No doubt my hon. Friend, the Under Secretary for War, will make a statement when the Army Estimates come on; but if the statement referred to had not been made as it has, there would have been no general knowledge of the scheme, and the result would have been that hon. Members would have entered upon a discussion of the Army Estimates, much less well equipped than they are now. Therefore, without dealing with the general question of comity between the two Houses of Parliament, I can assure the right hon. Gentleman opposite that the Government have been animated in this case by the convenience of the House to which we belong. [Cheers.]
§ * SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean),pointed out that the Government were asked last week whether they could make a statement on the subject.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYThe Under Secretary will make a statement on the War Office Vote, but I think that the statement made yesterday in the other House will place right hon. and hon. Gentlemen in a better position to discuss the subject when it comes on here.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERpointed out that his question remained unanswered.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY,who replied to the question, said: I cannot state the exact date when the Army Estimates will be taken, because I do not know how fast we are going to proceed with those Estimates which remain between this and the Army Estimates, but I shall endeavour to come to some arrangement, both for hastening business and also for knowing when the Army Estimates will come on.
§ DR. TANNER (Cork Co., Mid)asked whether hon. Members would be furnished with a copy of the statement of the Secretary of State for War?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYI do not know whether the "Hansard" Report of yesterday's proceedings will be published before the discussion on the Army Estimates comes on in this House, but, if it is not, the hon. Member can obtain the statement by purchasing a copy of The Times.
MR. T. M. HEALYinquired whether the convenience of hon. Members who were discussing the Civil Service Estimates was to be sacrificed for the convenience of those more particularly interested in the Army Estimates.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYreplied that he did not say that their convenience was to be sacrificed.