§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in deference to the wish of a large minority of the House of Commons, he will consent to withdraw the direction that the Under Secretary of State for-Foreign Affairs shall decline to reply to any supplementary questions.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.I see no reason to change the practice, which has been found during the last two years very much in the public interest. Of course this practice does not exclude, and never has excluded, the possibility of asking for, and receiving, a small verbal explanation.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESWill the right hon. Gentleman request the Under Secretary to give the small verbal explanation I asked for just now?