§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)said he wished to invite the attention of Mr. Speaker to a Question on the Paper in the name of the hon. Member for the New Forest Division of Hampshire, and to ask whether it was in order, seeing that it claimed the right of Members of this House and the House of Peers to motor through Hyde Park during prohibited hours on the grounds of the privilege of having free ingress and egress to the House of Commons, and invited a Minister of the Crown to express an opinion thereon. He submitted that Mr. Speaker was the sole exponent of the privileges of the House, that it was his high privilege to be their mouthpiece, and that it was not competent for any Member to deal with a matter of this sort. Moreover the same question was raised in the House in July last year, and the then Speaker decided that it was not a question of privilege but of police regulation.
§ * MR. SPEAKERIt is obvious that in any Answer that may be given by the hon. Member for Chorley, he has no right or title to settle what are or are not matters of privilege. I think the Question is simply intended to call attention to the fact that there is a claim of privilege, and that if such claim exists the new regulations ought not to have been made. But I am obliged to the hon. Member for his very careful editing of the Question, and I hope he will give me his assistance on future occasions.