§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he can now make a statement of the intentions of the Government as to the legislative business of the remaining weeks of the session.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI rise to make, in obedience to the promise which I gave to the right hon. Gentleman a week ago, my statement as to the future business of the session, and I think it will be convenient if I divide the Bills now on the Paper into a series of classes, and take each class by itself. The first class consists of those measures introduced since the Government asked for special privileges as regards time. With regard to those measures, I promised the House that if they proved controversial they should not be pressed; and of course that promise will be rigidly adhered to. The Government Bills introduced since the period I have named I believe are three small Departmental ones—the Bill of my right hon. friend the Home Secretary, the Isle of Man Bill, which, I believe, is wholly uncontroversial; a small Bill introduced a few days ago by the Chancellor of the Exchequer dealing with oil in tobacco—a Bill of which I confess myself quite ignorant, but which I understand meets with the general approval of those interested in the matter; and the third Bill is that introduced by my right hon. friend the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Naval Reserves Bill, the object of which is to make it possible to embody sailors and marines after their first period of twelve years service in the Reserve. I earnestly hope that the House will think fit to pass that Bill, which, I am convinced, will add materially to our naval defences and the strength of this country.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANIt has not yet been introduced.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURNo. It is a very short Bill of one clause. If opposed it cannot be passed, but I hope it will not be opposed. There are some other Bills which I hope to pass with regard to which no pledge has been given and which cannot pass if they are opposed. They are the Larceny Bill, two Local Government Board Bills for Ireland, a Poor Relief Bill for Ireland, and the Diocesan Records 88 Bill. I have no ground for thinking that these Bills will meet with opposition in any part of the House, but if they do they will not be pressed by the Government. The third class contains the two annual Bills which the House has to deal with every session—namely, the Public Works Loans Bill and the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill. These are Bills which the house will have to put on the Statute-book. Then I come to the fourth class, which includes small Departmental Bills, which I think can easily be dealt with in the interstices of more important or at all events of more far-reaching measures, and which will not, I think, actually prolong the session—the County Courts Investment Bill, the Inebriates Amendment Bill, the Post Office (Sites) Bill, the Elementary Education (England) Bill, and two Irish Education Bills, which I believe are desired by hon. Members opposite. That is the list of Departmental Bills. Then there are four Military Bills on the Paper which have come down to us from another place. Of these one is, I am sorry to say. destroyed by the fact that it does not technically comply with the Standing Orders of the House— that is, the Manœuvres Bill. I need say no more about that. There remain the Volunteer Bill, the Reserve Forces Bill, and the Military Lands Bill. The Volunteers Bill is a short Bill. It is designed to carry out two objects unanimously recommended by the Committee which sat in 1894, and which it is exceedingly desirable should be carried out. The Reserve Forces Bill is to do away with a defect which the recent mobilisation of forces in this country has brought to light. It appeared that in order to carry out the present law it was necessary to mobilise no less than 8,000 men, and as soon as they were mobilised they had to be given leave of absence. It would be, I think, very important that we should put that measure on the Statute-book. The Military Lands Bill is one which I think—from all the conversation which reaches me and from discussion in the public press in regard to the necessity of increased accommodation for ranges and for the purposes of training in shooting— is really most important and ought to become law. It makes workable two Acts which this House has already passed, but which, for reasons it would not be proper for me to enter into now, are rendered absolutely ineffective by technical defects. 89 I refer to the Acts of 1892 and 1897. I believe that when my hon. friend the Under Secretary for War has an opportunity of explaining this Bill to the House it will probably be felt that it is a Bill which we ought to pass without any further delay. There is one clause in it which has led to a great deal of controversy, and as to which considerable difference of opinion prevails. It is the clause providing for the use of the machinery of the Allotments Act for the compulsory leasing of lands to be used for military purposes. There are obvious objections and difficulties both to the object of the clause and the method by which it seeks to obtain the object in view, and the Government do not propose to press that clause on the House. With that reservation, I hope that the Bill will not excite hostility in any quarter of the House. Then there are two Bills still before the Grand Committees—the Companies Bill and the Money-lending Bill. It would not be proper for me to make a final statement now as to Bills which are not absolutely before the House at this moment, but I have every hope that both Bills may become law before the end of the present session. As regards the Companies Bill, the details have no doubt excited a great deal of commentary and animadversion upstairs, but as regards the general principle we are generally agreed; and I hope that the modifications which have been introduced upstairs or promised for the Report stage are such as will mitigate or altogether remove the objections which may have been felt to the details. As to the Money-lending Bill, I remember that, when I was making a parallel statement to this last session, the Leader of the Opposition then expressed his regret that we had found it necessary to abandon the further consideration of that Bill. I think he singled it out from among other measures as one over which he dropped a pious tear; and therefore I trust he will assist us in our attempt to pass the Bill now.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI may have another tear to drop.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI need not mention the Irish Tithes Bill and the Agricultural Holdings Bill, because they have reached the Third Reading stage, and the House will naturally expect them 90 to pass with no undue delay. We propose to drop the Factories and Workshops Bill, the Lunacy Bill, the Youthful Offenders Bill, the Savings Banks Bill, the Dogs Bill, the Sea Fisheries Bill, the Palatine Court of Durham Bill, and the Reformatories and Industrial Schools Bill. We cannot hope, either, to proceed further in the present session with the very important English educational measure which has recently been introduced in the Lords by the President of the Council. There is also a Scotch Education Bill about which I fear I must say the same thing. This Bill is one which we were particularly anxious to pass, but I have taken some trouble to inquire what views are held with regard to it; and though I believe that in Scotland generally it meets with a very large measure of support, yet it does raise move than one point of controversy, and is not popular in one or two districts in Scotland. In those circumstances, a Bill of that magnitude and importance can hardly hope to pass at the end of the session, but I earnestly hope that no long delay will occur before it is reintroduced and passed into law. I have now gone over the whole list of Bills now on the Paper, and it only remains for me to speak with regard to Supply, as to which also the right hon. Gentleman has, I believe, a question on the Paper. If the House grants, as I do not doubt that it will, the three additional days which I am about to ask for, we shall have four days remaining for Committee of Supply, as well as one day for Report. But in addition to the Supply which has been asked for in the ordinary Estimates of the year and in addition to any Supplementary Estimates of the ordinary kind, it will be necessary for my hon. friend the Under Secretary for War to introduce a. very important Estimate—important both as to its amount and as to the subject with which it deals. Among other services that Estimate will provide for what, I hope, are the final payments for the South African War and. the cost of the military operations in China, as well as some other very important items of Army expenditure. That is a Supplementary Estimate, but it appears to me that when an Estimate of that magnitude and dealing with topics of that importance is introduced at this stage of the session it is only fair to the House that it should not be one of the counted days. 91 in Supply, and therefore I shall endeavour to make such arrangements as will allow the House to have one day's discussion on it, without trenching on the twenty-three days allocated under the Standing Order. My right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will also have to ask the House before we separate to make further financial provision to meet the additional expenditure which is required in the main, but not wholly, by the Supplementary Estimate to which I have referred. I hope I have been clear, and that my statement will commend itself to the approval of the House.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI would venture to suggest that the most Convenient course for discussing the statement of the right hon. Gentleman will be on the motion to be subsequently moved. It is always unsatisfactory to attempt to do so by means of question and answer. I have no doubt that hon. Members on both sides will find that the more convenient plan for giving expression to their views.
§ MR. COURTNEY (Cornwall, Bodmin)Can the right hon. Gentleman give us some information which might facilitate the discussion? Will he say how he proposes to allocate the four remaining days of Supply?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURMy right hon. friend knows the principle on which the Government have invariably proceeded—that is, to consult the wishes and convenience of the House. I do not think it would be desirable for me to state at this moment how we shall allocate the days, because the course of events outside and other considerations make it inconvenient to settle the matter too long beforehand.
MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)Have the Government power to give an additional day for the Supplementary Estimate?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURYes, it is possible, if I put some other business down first.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER (Belfast, W.)Will a day be appropriated to the War Office Vote?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURNo, Sir. I should be reluctant to promise that, not 92 only on the general ground, but because I am not sure that one of the remaining days ought to be given to the War Office Vote. There must be further discussion of War Office affairs on the Supplementary Estimate, and the War Office has already had much discussion. The Vote has been held over in obedience to the very proper suggestion of the Leader of the Opposition in order that if unforeseen events occur there may be an opportunity of discussion.
§ MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)Of the remaining days, will not two be given, as usual, to the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office Votes?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThat is the ordinary form of allocation, but I do not wish to be induced to go further than I have already done.
§ MR. MACLEANCan the right hon. Gentleman now fix the date for the discussion of the Indian Budget?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURIt will certainly be next week. I trust that that will be satisfactory.
§ MR. FLAVINCan the right hon. Gentleman say in round figures what is the amount of the Supplementary Vote for South Africa?
§ The question was not answered.]