§ MR. CUMMING MACDONA (Southwark, Rotherhithe)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he will consider the advisability of making arrangements by which it will be possible to obtain from the House of Lords authentic copies of the evidence taken before Committees in that House on Bills that afterwards have to be considered in this House; and whether, in view of the fact that Members of this House have to legislate upon those Bills, he will take steps to secure that copies of that evidence be printed and laid upon the Table of this House, and distributed amongst the Members of it?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.In reply to the Question of the hon. Member, I have to state that I have made 288 inquiries into this matter, and I find that it is possible to obtain copies of the evidence given before the House of Lords' Committees whenever it is desired. But at the same time it is clearly inexpedient to go to the expense of printing the vast amount of evidence in connection with unopposed Bills, and it would be hard to distinguish between opposed and unopposed Bills. If, however, any distinction can be drawn between them, I shall be glad to consult the authorities of the two Houses upon the subject.