§ MR. WALTER HAZELL (Leicester)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the Midwives' Registration Bill now waiting its Second Reading in this House; whether he is aware that the Bill carries out the unanimous recommendations of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the subject, and that Bills with this object have been introduced time after time into Parliament, but that they have been dropped through failure to secure parliamentary time; and, whether in view of the large amount of mortality and widespread suffering both of mothers and of infants which the Committee report, the Government will give time during the present Session for the discussion of the Bill now before the House; and, if this be not possible, whether they can hold out hope of its being made a Government measure next Session?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYThe hon. Gentleman asks me to give special facilities for the discussion of a private Bill. Without venturing 391 to offer an opinion on the merits of the Bill, I must say this is a course the Government can hardly take at the present period of the Session.