§ MR. KIMBER () WandsworthI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury will he explain why the Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament is not given in the English language but in Norman French, a language which at this day is but imperfectly understood and by only a few of the people of this country. May I say that the question has been so altered since I presented it at the Table that the point I put in it is no longer identifiable by me. No doubt it has encountered one of those accidents which sometimes occur. But I will accept the question in the form in which it stands and ask leave to add a supplementary question.
§ *MR. SPEAKERIf the hon. Member proposes, without appealing to me as to the alteration, to ask, in the form of a supplementary question, the part which was struck out, that is not the proper course to take.
§ MR. KIMBERI do not intend to do that. I only wish to ask whether the First Lord of the Treasury is aware that not only is the Royal Assent to Acts of Parliament given in Norman French, but that communications between the two Houses are made in that language until something unusual happens, when the 1454 individuals charged with the duty of making them are found unequal to the task.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESI should like to ask, for the information of the House, whether the Clerks at the Table have authority to alter questions without communicating with the Member concerned?.
MR. PATRICK O'BRIENMay I ask whether, if the First Lord of the Treasury contemplates any change, he will substitute for Norman French the best language of all—namely, Irish?
§ *MR. SPEAKERThe practice is that if a question is brought to the table which contains some matter or is put in a form which is not regular, the hon. Member concerned is, if possible, communicated with. Sometimes it is impossible to communicate with the hon. Member, and the change is one which the clerks at the table have every reason to believe he would give his assent to if it were shown to him. In these circumstances they very often take upon themselves to assume that he would rather the correction was made at once than that his question should be postponed in order that it might be submitted to him. But when the correction raises matter of importance they invariably, I think, submit it to him.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESWould not the regular course, in that case, be to postpone the putting of the question until the Member has been communicated with?
§ *MR. SPEAKERI have already dealt with that point.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURIn answer to the supplementary question put by my hon. friend behind me, I have to say that it is extremely probable that the amount of Norman French at the command of the officials of the House of Lords may not be equal to every emergency. As regards the question on the Paper, the fact that the Royal Assent is given in Norman French is surely a most interesting relic of antiquity, showing how far back our Parliamentary institutions go; and I feel convinced that, on reflection, my hon. friend himself would be the last person to desire to change it.
§ MR. KIMBERMay I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is aware that 1455 the use of Norman French was only reintroduced—after years of desuetude —in the worst days of the Stuarts, with other French customs from the Paris Court?
§ [No answer was returned.]