HC Deb 20 May 1897 vol 49 cc937-8
DR. FARQUHARSON (Aberdeenshire, W.)

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, whether he can conveniently state to the House when the Whitsuntide holidays will begin?

THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY

As I think I have already intimated, in answer to a previous question, we shall probably rise on the Friday before Whit Sunday.

DR. FARQUHARSON

Will there be a Morning Sitting on that Friday?

THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY

No, Sir.

MR. HENRY LABOUCHERE (Northampton)

asked if the right hon. Gentleman would tell them what was in his mind in respect to Whitsuntide? [Laughter.] He did not quite gather what holidays they were going to have.

THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY

I thought I had already informed the House that much will depend on the progress we make with the Workmen (Compensation for Accidents) Bill. We rise on the Friday before Whit Monday. If we have either finished the Committee stage of the Workmen (Compensation for Accidents) Bill, or, as I have said, made such material progress with it that the completion of the Committee stage is obviously not a matter of any lengthened discussion, I shall then propose that the House should meet on the Monday after Whit Monday—the 14th of June. On the Monday, Thursday, and Friday, which are the only three days remaining to the Government in that week, Supply will be taken, and I shall do my best to make it of as uncontroversial a character as possible. That would enable hon. Gentlemen who are not interested in the particular Supply taken to prolong their absence from the House until the Monday following. The House would still be in Session, and I should again take Supply. That would be the Monday before the Jubilee Celebration. We shall adjourn from the Monday to the Thursday after the Jubilee Celebration. The House will see that, if that arrangement be carried out, a very large proportion of the House will not be burdened by attendance within these walls during a considerable time before the Jubilee Celebration. But the possibility of carrying out this arrangement depends on the progress we succeed in making before the Whitsuntide holidays with the Accidents Bill.

SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN (Stirling Burghs)

Will the right hon. gentleman say, on the supposition that the Second Reading of the Finance Bill will be taken to-night, when the Committee stage will be put down?

THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY

It must be some time after Whitsuntide.

MR. GIBSON BOWLES

Under the scheme he has laid down to hand over Wednesday, the 16th, to private legislation, including a Female Suffrage Bill. [Laughter.]

MR. LOUGH

asked whether, if the favourable progress which the First Lord of the Treasury anticipated was made, it might not be possible to meet on the Thursday week after Whit Monday. [General cheers.]

The FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY

If the House showed any great enthusiasm for the transaction of public business, I would not say that such a plan would be absolutely impossible. [Cheers.]