HC Deb 29 April 1896 vol 40 c156

On the Motion "That this House do now adjourn,"

THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) Preston

said that perhaps he ought to avail himself of that opportunity of stating that a Motion would be put down on the Paper for to-morrow to suspend the 12 o'clock Rule for the purpose of bringing to a close the Debate on the Second Reading of the Agricultural Land Rating Bill.

SIR HENRY FOWLER

said he should like to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, in the absence of the Leader of the House, whether the Motion was intended to be made, as it had often been made previously, by arrangement between the two sides of the House, simply with the intention of bringing the Debate to a close, and so that the Rule shall not interfere with the free action of the House at midnight, or whether it was the intention of the Government to endeavour to carry on after midnight a Debate of this importance. If the latter were the intention of the Government, he desired to give notice, so far as the Opposition were concerned, that they would offer the strongest resistance to any attempt, after three days' Debate, to bring to a close the discussion of one of the most important Measures ever submitted to the House as a most unfair trespass on the legitimate rights of the Minority. [Cheers.]

House adjourned at a Quarter before Six o'clock.