§ Sir JOSEPH LEESE (Lancashire, Accrington)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, whether, if the new Standing Order, "Priority of Business," is passed, Bills put down for the third and fourth Wednesdays after Whit Sunday will be transferred to the third and fourth Fridays after Whit Sunday, and will receive the same priority as if the said Standing Order had not been passed.
§ GENERAL LAURIEMay I also ask the First Lord of the Treasury, whether, if the new Standing Orders as proposed are brought into effect, any arrangement will be made by which the Public Bills introduced by unofficial Members and placed on the Order Papers for Wednesdays throughout the session will be transferred to Fridays in the same order as now standing on the Order Paper.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOUROf course, if the House consents, as I hope it will, to substitute Friday for Wednesday, we should take care that no Member with a Bill down for Wednesday should suffer by the change. It will be a change, not only in the day, but in all the business set down for that day.
§ GENERAL LAURIEDo I understand that all the orders set down for Wednesday will be transferred to Friday?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOUROf course, the change will be en bloc. The whole thing will be transferred from Wednesday to Friday.
§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I wish to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, whether each rule will come into operation immediately after it is passed, or whether all will come into operation together when all have been passed.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI think I answered a question of somewhat similar tenor a few days ago. Every rule as soon as it is passed becomes a Sessional Order, unless the House passes some Resolution suspending its operation. To make it a Standing Order requires in the case of a new rule a separate Motion. I do not propose that any of the rules—I think 874 they are numbered 3 to 10, but I must not be taken as giving the precise figures—that block of rules which deals with the arrangement of our time, should come into operation until all are passed. The other rules, which stand on their own basis, will come into operation, at any rate as Sessional Orders, as soon as they are passed.
MR. JAMES LOWTHER (Kent, Thanet)How does that effect the case of an already existing Standing Order being amended?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURA Standing Order which is amended will remain a Standing Order.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURYes, it will remain an amended Standing Order. A new Order will remain a Sessional Order until a special Resolution is passed making it a Standing Order.