§ * MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN (Worcestershire, E.)asked the Speaker's ruling with regard to the Motion dealing with the acquisition of land by local authorities, which was down for consideration that evening. The hon. Member for Norwich had at the last moment altered his original notice of Motion in substance as well as in form. It now included a proposal for compulsion; and it further added a provision that the value 681 at which land was to be purchased should be that at which it was assessed for purposes of taxation—a matter to which there was no allusion, direct or indirect, in the Resolution as it originally stood on the Paper.†Would it, he asked, be in order for the hon. Member to move the Resolution in its new form, and to what extent was it in the power of an hon. Member to vary his notice of Motion at the last moment?
§ * MR. SPEAKERsaid the rule might be stated thus:—It was open to any hon. Member to vary his Motion, but it must not go beyond the notice of Motion which was originally given. In his opinion the second Motion, of which the hon. Member gave notice yesterday, did very considerably go beyond the limits of the Motion of which he first gave notice. Therefore in calling upon him that evening he thought he must ask the hon. Member to omit the words enabling local authorties to acquire land "compulsorily, and to base the purchase price on the value at which the land was assessed for purposes of taxation." The reason for the rule was obvious. Hon. Members seeing a Notice on the Paper to which they possibly might have no objection might make arrangements for not being present or might avoid preparing themselves to speak upon it, but if at the last moment some entirely new Motion appeared on the Paper they might find themselves taken by surprise