§ *MR. PURVIS (Peterborough)On behalf of the hon. Member for Cambridge University (Sir Richard Jebb), I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the fact that the Bill to amend the law relating to literary copyright has been submitted to two separate Select Committees of the House of Lords, has twice been passed by that House, and has also received the approval of authors, publishers, chambers of commerce, and other bodies interested in copyright property, Her Majesty's Government will consider the expediency of themselves introducing legislation on the lines of that Bill.
§ The FIRST LORD of the TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR, Manchester, E.)My hon. friend will understand that I am very reluctant to give pledges at the end of the session about work in another session; that reluctance is increased in the present case from the fact that the Government have no information at present as to how a Bill is viewed in the colonies which very greatly affects those colonies.