§
Address for,—
Return showing the names of all Aliens to whom certificates of naturalization have been issued, and whose oaths of allegiance have, between the 1st day of January 1897 and the 31st day of December 1897, been registered at the Home Office, giving the country and place of residence of the person naturalised, and including information as to any Aliens who have during the same period obtained Acts of Naturalization from the Legislature (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 164, of Session 1897)" (Mr. Jesse Collings).
§ Ballot for Bills and Motions for the First Four Tuesdays,—
§
Motion made,—
That no Bills, other than Government Bills, be introduced in anticipation of the ballot, and that all Members who desire to ballot, whether for Bills or Motions for the first four Tuesdays of the Session, do hand in their names at the Table during the sitting of the House on the first or second day of the Session, and that a copy of such notices be handed in at the latest during the sitting of the House on the third day of the Session. That the ballot for the precedence of the said Bills and Motions be taken on the third day of the Session at a convenient time and place to be appointed by Mr. Speaker, and the introduction and first reading of Bills on the fourth day be taken at the commencement of business and before questions."—(Mr. A. J. Balfour.)
§ MR. LOUGH (Islington, W.)I have no intention of opposing this Motion, for I think that in many respects it is very convenient. But I should like to draw the attention of the First Lord of the Treasury to the lines which deal with the introduction of private Bills on the first reading. I think he will agree with me that this stage has become almost, if not quite, a farce. It occupies two or three hours of most valuable time. Now-a-days, as I understand, no objection is ever taken to the introduction of a Bill, and I would therefore suggest to the right hon. Gentleman whether something could not be done to do away with this stage in its present form. Could not these Bills be printed and distributed sooner?
§ MR. MCKENNA (Monmouth, North)Perhaps, too, the right hon. Gentleman could give the House some assurance as to whether the Government intend to 151 leave to private Members the first four Tuesdays of the Session. I do not ask for a definite pledge on the point, but possibly the right hon. Gentleman, with his present knowledge of public business to be taken, can say whether we have any chance or probability of retaining the four Tuesdays in question.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (MR. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, EastIn regard to the question just put to me, I cannot of course prophesy any more than other Members of the House what the course of public business will be. But I see no reason to anticipate why we should be forced to interfere with the rights of private Members during the first four Tuesdays. Something must depend upon, among other things, the length of time taken by the Address, and I am not in a position to give an opinion as to that. But I may say that this year especially a large amount of business must be got through before the 31st March; and a certain number of very important proposals will have to be discussed in Supply before the end of the financial year.
§ MR. J. MORLEY (Montrose Borough)On Supplementary Estimates?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYYes, on Supplementary Estimates; and then, also, there are certain questions as to the Army. With regard to the suggestion of the honourable Member for Islington that the first reading stage of a Bill may be regarded as so formal a proceeding as to make it undesirable that Parliamentary time should be taken up with it, I quite admit that there has been a tendency of late years to diminish the importance attached to that stage, but I think the hon. Gentleman will see that it is quite impossible to make the first reading of private Members' Bills formal, unless Government Bills are to be treated in the same way, and that I am not at all sure the House would approve of.
§ Resolution put and carried.
§ Ordered, That no Bills, other than Government Bills, be introduced in anticipation of the ballot, and that all Members who desire to ballot, whether for Bills, or Motions for the first four Tuesdays of the Session, do hand in their names at the Table during the sitting of the House on the first or second day of 152 the Session, and that a copy of such Notices be handed in at the latest during the sitting of the House on the third day of the Session:
§ That the ballot for precedence of the said Bills and Motions be taken on the third day of the Session at a convenient time and place to be appointed by Mr. Speaker, and the introduction and First Reading of Bills on the fourth day in taken at the commencement of Business and before Questions.