§ MR. VICARY GIBBS (Herts, St. Albans)Arising out of these 11 questions, I wish to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer a question of which I have given him previous notice—namely, whether his attention has been drawn to the, fact that those 11 questions, besides several supplementary ones, have been put by one Member, many of those questions being of little or no public interest; and whether he does not regard such action as an abuse of the privileges of the House, and calculated to lead to the curtailment of a valuable privilege enjoyed by hon. Members.
§ MR. S. T. EVANS (Glamorgan, Mid.)I wish to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has considered the question from the point of view of computing that, if a similar number of questions were asked by every Member of the House, it would take 15 days of eight hours to answer them.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir W. HARCOURT, Derby)That is not a matter of which I am the judge. The House is the judge, and it must form its own opinion on that subject; and, when it expresses that opinion, I feel sure that hon. Members will desire to conform to the wishes of the House and restrain the number of questions put.
§ MR. W. JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)Has any Member of the Tory Opposition ever done a thing of this kind?
§ SIR W. HARCOURTIt is still less my duty to answer for the Tory Opposition.