§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he will, before the debate on the vote of censure, put Members of the House of Commons in possession of the document containing propositions embracing preferntial tariffs or the taxation of food, which was brought by him before the Cabinet held on the last day of the session of 1903, when the document in question, "Insular Free Trade," which was published by the Prime Minister as a pamphlet, was also brought before the Cabinet.
§ MR A. J. BALFOURThe Question seems to be based on a misapprehension, and I certainly do not propose to lay any further Papers on the subject.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLasked whether the statement of the noble Lord the Member for the Ealing Division of Middlesex on his retirement from the Cabinet was based on a misapprehension. His own Question exactly accorded with the noble Lord's speech.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURYou had better ask the noble Lord the Question.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI would not be in order in asking the noble Lord a Question as to a speech he made outside this House, but I think I am in order in asking the right hon. Gentleman if he will lay the document on the Table of the House.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe hon. Gentleman is perfectly in order in asking me the Question, but I should be certainly ill-advised in answering it—further than to say that what is stated in the Question is contrary to my recollection of the facts.