§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN (Stirling Burghs)I have to ask the Prime Minister if he can inform the House as to the business for next week.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOUREither Monday or Tuesday will be devoted to the conclusion of the debate on the Budget 694 Resolutions if we are not able to finish it to-morrow. I hope we shall finish it tomorrow, and I shall ask the House to allow us to suspend the Twelve O'clock Rule, not int he least with a view to having a lengthened debate, but simply with a view to putting us in the position which every Government has been in with regard to the debates on the Budget for a long series of years. The Second Reading of the Aliens Bill will be taken on one of those days.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGE (Carnarvon Boroughs)Can the right hon. Gentleman say when he proposes to introduce the Bill dealing with the educational situation in Wales which Lord Onslow referred to last week.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI hope that that Bill will be introduced soon.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANWhat is the necessity for suspending the Twelve O'clock Rule to-morrow.
§ MR. A.J. BALFOURThe privilege has always been granted to every Government on the Budget, and I do not know why we should be worse off than our predecessors.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANBut is it not a fact that that privilege is granted only in respect of those Resolutions which, if they are not agreed to, might result in a loss to the revenue, and whether the Resolutions which are of that character have not already been disposed of.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Committee has disposed of those Resolutions, and from that point of view there is no excuse for the suspension of the Twelve O'clock Rule. But if the right hon. Gentleman will inquire of my right hon. friend the Member for West Monmouth, who has spent the greatest amount of time ever spent in one session over one Budget, I think he will find that, under the Sessional Orders, the suspension is usually given to the Government for this purpose.
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT (Monmouthshire, W.)said, after an interval 695 of ten years, he should not like to pledge himself on the subject. But, as far as his recollection went, the suspension of the Twelve O'clock Rule was only moved in respect of the Resolutions, failure to pass which might imperil the revenue and which it was desired to pass in a hurry.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am glad of the right hon. Gentleman's interposition, as it has enabled me to consult with my colleagues and to find that I was in error. The Sessional Order enables the Government on the Report stage of the Resolutions to move to suspend the Twelve O'clock Rule, and not on the Committee stage. That being so, I shall not press the matter further.