FIRST READINGS—THE TEN MINUTE RULE—POINT OF PROCEDURE. (Hansard, 13 February 1900)

§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL
Will you allow me, Mr. Speaker, to bring under your notice a matter affecting the procedure and practice of this House? I wish to know if there is any remedy for the systematic abuse of the Ten Minute Rule by the right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade, who yesterday—

§ MR. SPEAKER
Order, order! If the hon. Gentleman rises to ques- 1381 tion as to procedure, he must not make a speech attacking a Member.

§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL
I do not wish to attack anyone, but to describe what occurred. It will be in the recollection of the House that yesterday afternoon, just before a very important Ministerial statement, the President of the Board of Trade introduced the Companies Bill under the Ten Minute Rule. I submit that that Bill is a Bill of first-rate importance, and one of high complication, which should not have been introduced under the Ten Minute Rule. Its introduction was therefore a breach of faith with the House which passed the rule. When the resolution on which that rule was based was agreed to, the late Mr. W. H. Smith, as Leader of the House, gave a distinct guarantee that motions under the rule should only be introduced in certain circumstances, and that they should not be made in relation to complicated Bills, or Bills of first-rate importance. His words were— It is not intended by this resolution to give the Government power to introduce without explanation any Bill of great public importance. It was on the strength of that guarantee that the resolution was passed, and I submit that the President of the Board of Trade has been guilty of a breach of faith in introducing under the rule such a Bill as that dealing with public companies.

§ MR. SPEAKER
I said, in answer to the hon. Gentleman yesterday, that the Standing Order does not give the Speaker any power to decide what Bills may or may not be introduced under this rule. The Standing Order leaves it to the discretion of the Member to decide whether the Bill which he desires to introduce comes within the rule. Hon. Members may, of course, entertain most varying opinions as to the degree of importance to be attached to any particular Bill. With regard to the Companies Bill it is absolutely impossible for me to judge whether it is a measure of great public importance. All I see on the Paper with reference to it is that it is "A Bill to Amend the Law relating to Companies." I cannot tell from the title what the nature of the Bill is, and I am therefore unable, nor is it my duty, to express any opinion on the point raised by the hon. Member.

§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL
May I ask the First Lord of the Treasury, who never broke a pledge, even to Ireland—

§ MR. SPEAKER
The hon. Member cannot, on a point of order, address a question to the Leader of the House.

§ MR. D. A. THOMAS
May I suggest that the degree of importance of the Bill is characterised by the fact that it is named first in the Queen's Speech.