§ SIR BRAMPTON GURDON (Norfolk, N.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he can say when it is proposed to take the Second Reading of the Elementary School Teachers Bill.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAs I stated the other day in answer to a question put to me from another quarter of the House, there does appear to be a desire to discuss this Bill which, if it exists, as I fear it does, will make it impossible for us to make further progress with the Bill.
§ DR. MACNAMARAIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is a very general agreement on both sides of the House as to the desirableness of securing this reform at as early a date as possible?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI think there is a large body of opinion on both sides of the House of the kind the hon. Gentleman refers to; but nevertheless I believe there is a volume of opinion in the House which would never allow so large a change to come into operation without some opportunity for discussion.
§ DR. MACNAMARAIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there are only two notices on the Paper, one in the name of the noble Lord the Member for Greenwich and the other in the name of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Oxford University? Are these the notices which make him believe that it is impossible to pass the Bill?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURIt is not the notices which make it impossible to proceed with the Bill. It is the indications that these notices afford and other symptoms that have come to my knowledge that make me fear that further progress with the Bill this session is impossible.