§ MR. BLACK (Banffshire)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the Government has determined at the ensuing general election to ask the electorate to empower a Minister of the Crown to impose or to threaten, or undertake to impose, import duties of a retaliatory character without obtaining the previous assent of this House to each individual duty; and, if so, whether it is contemplated that such powers may be granted to a Minister sitting in the House of Lords, and so exempt from direct control of this House.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURIf the hon. Gentleman will be kind enough to refer to the answer to a practically identical I Question on the 10th March f I hope he will find satisfaction.
§ MR. BLACKsuggested that the Questions were not identical, as one applied to the past and the other to the future.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe answer, at any rate, applies to both.