§ MR. BROADHURST (Leicester)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury 1226 whether he will consider and propose such Amendments to the Rules of the House as will enable it to adjourn not later than eleven of the clock at night.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI should be very glad that our proceedings should end at eleven o'clock. My recent experience has shown me that even twelve o'clock is hardly the hour at which the. House always desires to, terminate its. proceedings. If the hon. Member will exercise his individual influence among, his friends, I hope we shall reach, if not the ideal which he contemplates, at all events something near it.
§ MR. BROADHURSTI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he will give further consideration to the question of making such alterations in. the commencement and close of the sessions of Parliament as will avoid the necessity for sitting during the months of July and August.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI do not at all reject the idea that we might distribute the portion of the year given up to the Parliamentary session in a more convenient, and I would almost add a more rational, fashion. But there are two very great difficulties in the way. One is that the date at which our financial business for the year comes to an end is 31st March. If we have to begin Supply, as we do now, on 1st April, and have to conclude that and all other matters at the early date which the hon. Gentleman suggests, I think it would require a considerable re-arrangement of our business, and I am not sure that it would not involve altering the financial year. My right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer contemplates with legitimate dismay the prospect of having three Budgets in two years. There is another reason even more important. It is quite easy for the House to determine that it will meet in November. By what measure are you going to make it impossible that, having met in November, it will not go on till the present date in August? If you had a legal termination of the session, which is common to a very large number of foreign Legislatures, you would of course get over the difficulty. But imagine how great a change that would involve in the ordinary procedure of this House!
§ MR. BROADHURSTMay I suggest to the right hon. Gentleman whether he thinks an inquiry into the whole subject by a Select Committee would he of any assistance to him.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI certainly would not think of refusing a Select 'Committee. But it would be an elaborate inquiry, and I do not think that I could take part in it. The labour thrown on those who have to administer public affairs is so great that to add to the necessary work done outside the House the necessity of attending and presiding at a long elaborate inquiry of this sort really makes the proposal almost impracticable; and whether the House would care for a Committee which did not have upon it the Leader of the House for the time being and the Leader of the Opposition, I think there may be some doubt.