§ MR. J. WARDI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the rejection of the Aliens Bill by the other House; whether, in view of the fact that such Bill passed this House unanimously, he will undertake at an early date to reintroduce the Bill into the other place and 943 give it the sanction and assistance of His Majesty's Government; and whether he will submit to the appreciation of this House and the country a measure which will insure that in the future important Bills, which have received the assent of the representatives of the people, will become law without unnecessary delay.
§ MR. PAUL (Northampton)May I ask whether it is not open to any peer to move the Second Reading of this Bill again, and what the Lords have to do with the authorship of Bills sent from the House of Commons? Is not the unanimous opinion of the House of Commons good enough for them?
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANThat Question is rather of an abstruse and argumentative character. As to the Question of the hon. Member for Stoke, I cannot give the undertaking desired. It is, in our opinion, an unconstitutional attitude on the part of an Opposition to reject a Bill apart from its merits merely on the ground that the Government have not taken it up, and we are not disposed by our action in this case to sanction any such precedent. My hon. friend may be sure that the serious subject raised in the last paragraph of his Question is not likely to escape the attention of his Majesty's Government.