§ (2.20.) MR. A. J. BALFOURI beg to move the Resolution in my name as to the sitting of Committees tomorrow. I move it as it had been the practice for many years past, but I may add that it is not to be treated as a Government Motion, and the Government tellers will not tell for it.
§ Motion made and Question proposed, "That Committees do not sit Tomorrow, being Ascension Day, until Two of the Clock."—(Mr. A. J. Balfour.)
§ MR. JOHN ELLISregretted that the right hon. Gentleman had felt it necessary to make this Motion. They were just starting under a new order of things, and he might have very well allowed it to drop. He yielded to no man in that House in his appreciation of the great Christian landmarks, but he did not think it necessary to signify his appreciation in such a manner as this. The Committees of the House were now in the flood tide of business, and it was most inconvenient thus to curtail their sittings. In particular the Standing Committee on Trade now engaged on the Licensing Bill had been obliged by this Motion to adjourn for 951 a week. He hoped that, before another year, the right hon. Gentleman would reconsider this matter, and arrive at the conclusion that it was not necessary for him again to make the Motion.
§ MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTONthanked the First Lord of the Treasury for making the Motion. He hoped the House would not inaugurate the new Rules by the abandonment of these landmarks of the Christian religion, and that it would not signalise the Coronation
§ year by dropping this ancient practice.
§ MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)suggested that it might be as well that, instead of meeting at two o'clock, the Committees should not sit at all on Ascension Day.
§ (2.23.) Question put.
§ The House divided:—Ayes, 118; Noes, 72. (Division List No. 164.)
953| AYES. | ||
| Abraham, William (Cork, N. E.) | Hay, Hon. Claude George | O'Brien, Patrick (Kilkenny) |
| Anson, Sir William Reynell | Hayden, John Patrick | O'Brien, P. J. (Tipperary, N.) |
| Anstruther, H. T. | Hayter, Rt. Hon. Sir Arthur D. | O'Donnell, T. (Kerry, W.) |
| Arkwright, John Stanhope | Heaton, John Henniker | O'Dowd, John |
| Austin, Sir John | Hoare, Sir Samuel | O'Shaughnessy, P. J. |
| Bain, Colonel James Robert | Hogg, Lindsay | Parker, Gilbert |
| Balfour, Rt. Hon. A. J.(Manch'r) | Hope, J. F. (Sheffield, Brightside | Percy, Earl |
| Balfour, Rt Hn Gerald W. (Leeds | Horner, Frederick William | Pilkington, Lieut—Col Richard |
| Barry, E. (Cork, S.) | Houston, Robert Paterson | Plummer, Walter R. |
| Beach, Rt. Hn. Sir Michael Hicks | Howard, J.(Midd., Tottenham) | Power, Patrick Joseph |
| Beresford, Lord Charles William | Hutton, John (Yorks., N. R.) | Pryce-Jones, Lt.-Col. Edward |
| Boland, John | Johnston, William (Belfast) | Purvis, Robert |
| Bond, Edward | Joyce, Michael | Reid, James (Greenock) |
| Boscawen, Arthur Griffith- | Kennaway, Rt. Hon. Sir John H. | Renwick, George |
| Brotherton, Edward Allen | Law, Hugh Alex. (Donegal, W.) | Ritchie, Rt. Hon. Chas. Thomson |
| Burke, E. Haviland- | Leamy, Edmund | Samuel, Harry S. (Limehouse) |
| Campbell, John (Armagh, S.) | Leigh-Bennett, Henry Currie | Sandys, Lieut.-Col. Thos. Myles |
| Carson, Rt. Hon. Sir Edw. H. | Loder, Gerald Walter Erskine | Sharpe, William Edward T. |
| Cavendish, R. F. (N. Lancs.) | Long, Rt. Hn. Walter (Bristol, S) | Sheehan, Daniel Daniel |
| Cavendish, V. C. W. (Derbyshire) | Lowther, Rt. Hon. James (Kent) | Sinclair, Louis (Romford) |
| Cecil, Lord Hugh (Greenwich) | Lundon, W. | Smith, H. C (North'mb, Tyneside |
| Chamberlain, J. Austen (Worc'r | Macdona, John Cumming | Spear, John Ward |
| Churchill, Winston Spencer | MacIver, David (Liverpool) | Stanley, Hon. Arthur (Ormskirk |
| Collings, Rt. Hon. Jesse | MacVeagh, Jeremiah | Stanley, Lord (Lancs.) |
| Cranborne, Viscount | M'Arthur, Charles (Liverpool) | Stone, Sir Benjamin |
| Delany, William | M'Calmont, Col. J. (Antrim, E.) | Sullivan, Donal |
| Digby, John K. D. Wingfield- | M'Govern, T. | Talbot, Rt. Hn. J. G.(Oxf'd Univ. |
| Dillon, John | M'Hugh, Patrick A. | Valentia, Viscount |
| Doogan, P. C. | M'Killop, W. (Sligo, North) | Warr, Augustus Frederick |
| Douglas, Rt. Hon. A. Akers- | Maple, Sir John Blundell | Welby, Lt.-Col. A. C. E. (Taunt'n |
| Durning-Lawrence, Sir Edwin | Mellor, Rt. Hon. John William | Whitmore, Charles Algernon |
| Esmonde, Sir Thomas | Meysey-Thompson, Sir H. M. | Williams, Rt Hn J Powell-(Birm. |
| Fellowes, Hon. Ailwyn Edward | Middlemore, John Throgmorton | Wodehouse, Rt. Hn. E. R. (Bath) |
| Ffrench, Peter | Morton, Arthur H. A. (Deptford) | Worsley-Taylor, Henry Wilson |
| Field, William | Mount, William Arthur | Wylie, Alexander |
| Fisher, William Hayes | Muutz, Philip A. | |
| Gilhooly, James | Murphy, John | |
| Gorst, Rt. Hon. Sir John Eldon | Murray, Rt Hn. A. Graham (Bute | TELLERS FOE THE AYES— |
| Gray, Ernest (West Ham) | Myers, William Henry | Mr. Boulnois and Mr. |
| Gunter, Sir Robert | Nicol, Donald Ninian | Vieary Gibbs. |
| Hamilton, Rt Hn Lord G. (Midd'x | O'Brien, Kendal (Tipperary, Mid | |
| NOES. | ||
| Allan, William (Gateshead) | Causton, Richard Knight | Flynn, James Christopher |
| Black, Alexander William | Channing, Francis Allston | Fuller, J. M. F. |
| Blake, Edward | Colomb, Sir John Charles Ready | Goddard, Daniel Ford |
| Brigg, John | Crean, Eugene | Gurdon, Sir W. Brampton |
| Broadhurst, Henry | Dilke, Rt. Hon. Sir Charles | Harcourt, Rt. Hon. Sir William |
| Brunner, Sir John Tomlinson | Emmott, Alfred | Heath, James (Staffords., N. W |
| Caldwell, James | Fenwick, Charles | Helme, Norval Watson |
| Cameron, Robert | Fison, Frederick William | Hemphill, Rt. Hon. Charles H. |
| Hobhouse, C. E. H.(Bristol, E. | Parkes, Ebenezer | Thomson, F. W. (York, W. R.) |
| Hope, John Deans (Fife, West) | Partington, Oswald | Tomkinson, James |
| Humphreys-Owen, Arthur C. | Peel, Hn. Wm. Robert Wellesley | Trevelyan, Charles Philips |
| Johnstone, Heywood (Sussex) | Pirie, Duncan V. | Walrond, Rt Hn. Sir William H. |
| Langley, Batty | Randles, John S. | Wason, Eugene (Clackmannan) |
| Law, Andrew Bonar (Glasgow) | Ridley, Hn. M. W. (Stalybridge) | Wason, John Cathcart (Orkney |
| Lawson, John Grant | Rollit, Sir Albert Kaye | Weir, James Galloway |
| Leese, Sir Joseph F. (Accrington | Runciman, Walter | Wilson, Fred. W. (Norfolk, Mid. |
| Lewis, John Herbert | Russell, T. W. | Wilson, John (Glasgow) |
| Lough, Thomas | Shaw, Charles Edw. (Stafford) | Wilson, J. W.(Worcestersh., N. |
| Macnamara, Dr. Thomas J. | Shaw, Thomas (Hawick, B.) | Young, Samuel |
| MacNeill, John Gordon Swift | Smith, James Parker (Lanarks) | Yoxall, James Henry |
| M'Kenna, Reginald | Soares, Ernest J. | |
| M'Killop, James (Stirlingshire) | Spencer, Rt Hn C. R. (Northants | |
| Mooney, John J. | Strachey, Sir Edward | TELLERS FOE THE NOES— |
| Moore, William (Antrim, N.) | Strutt, Hon. Charles Hedley | Mr. John Ellis and Sir James Woodhouse. |
| Morley, Charles (Breconshire) | Thomas, Alfred (Glamorgan, E. | |
| Nussey, Thomas Willans | Thomas, J A (Gl'morgan, Gower |