§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do meet To-morrow at Twelve of the clock, and that on conclusion of Government Business Mr. Speaker do adjourn the House without Question put."—(Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman.)
§ SIR A. ACLAND-HOOD (Somerset, Wellington)said that before the debate on this Motion was taken he thought the House ought to have some information as to the business to be taken next week. They proposed to divide against the Motion as a protest against the great inconvenience that a Saturday sitting caused to Members and officials of the House. One thing which made him smile was that only on Thursday last week the Prime Minister told them he did not wish to use the power of the Government in any tyrannical way. He did not know what the Prime Minister's idea of tyranny was, but, to his simple mind, keeping the House sitting continuously for twenty-seven hours, and following that by a Saturday sitting, after the number of occasions on which the so-called eleven o'clock rule had been already sus- 1306 pended this session, seemed to be a fair sample of tyranny. One reason they were told it was necessary to get the Consolidated Fund Bill through by Thursday night was that it was impossible to get the Royal Assent as quickly as usual. That Bill went through all stages in another place yesterday evening, and he wanted to know by what mysterious process the Royal Assent had been obtained? Was it done by wireless telegraphy or telepathy? The House was really entitled to an answer on that point, because only yesterday the Prime Minister said he had to take the Bill as rapidly as possible for that particular reason. He awaited with great interest the right hon. Gentleman's explanation of the way he was able to carry out these things so expeditiously.
§ THE PRIME MINISTER AND FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, Stirling Burghs)The right hon. Gentleman has genially raised several points on which I will endeavour to give him satisfaction as far as I can. As to the mysterious way in which the Royal Assent has been procured at very short notice, I am a tyro, and cannot very well explain, but I would refer the right hon. Gentleman to others who can explain—the right hon. Gentleman's own colleagues, who for many years pursued the same mysterious method that has been adopted to-day. The right hon. Gentleman has referred to my deprecation of any attempt to use the power of the Government such as it is tyrannically. I must remind the right hon. Gentleman that, at the very moment I said that, I was conveying an important concession by the Government to the wishes of the Opposition. That is a proof that the Government are not tyrannical, because we were at once yielding to the plaintive request of the oppressed political Party sitting opposite. I hope that the events of the last few days will leave no bitterness behind. With regard to the business which the Government contemplate—I must make this statement only provisionally, there can be no pledge, only a forecast we intend to devote Monday and Tuesday to procedure, and if we conclude that on Tuesday the Motion for the adjournment over Easter will be moved on Wednesday.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN (Worcestershire, E.)hoped nothing that would fall from his lips would disturb the happy harmony which had been secured by the general tone of the last two speeches. But he must call the attention of the House to the position in which they stood. They were to have a Saturday in lieu of the Thursday sitting which lapsed owing to the dispute of Wednesday night. The whole difficulty in which the House found itself arose out of the decision of the Government being made known to the Opposition only at the moment when they actually entered upon the consideration of the Consolidated Fund Bill on Wednesday last.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe Patronage Secretary to the Treasury contradicts me. Did he give any public notice of his intention to proceed with the Bill that night?
§ MR. GEORGE WHITELEYThe right hon. Gentleman the Member for the Wellington Division sent me a message in the afternoon that if we proposed to proceed that night with both the Army Annual Bill and the Consolidated Fund Bill there would be a very great row. My answer was that we did propose to do so, and that we should have to surfer the row.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINthought it was scarcely worth the while of the Patronage Secretary to contradict him in order to get in that explanation. It was clear there was no public notice. The Prime Minister had described himself as a mere tyro in methods of Parliamentary procedure—
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANNot in matters of Parliamentary procedure generally, but in this particular method of getting the Royal assent.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINquite understood that the innocency of the right hon. Gentleman referred only to that one small part of their procedure, and that the right hon. Gentleman was no tyro with re- 1308 gard to procedure generally. Everyone now saw that the taking of the Consolidated Fund Bill on Wednesday night was wholly unnecessary. There was no earthly reason why all that pressure should have been put upon the House of Commons to hurry forward that Bill. It would have been perfectly sufficient if it had been finished by Tuesday next. He desired to join in the protest against the House of Commons being punished by a Saturday sitting because the Government had mismanaged its business through ignorance of the ordinary methods of conducting it. Saturday sittings should not be resorted to except under circumstances of most extreme-urgency. Such additions to their labours made it more than ever difficult for a man with other occupations to give a portion of his time to the service of the country. The strain upon hon. Members was not only due to the sittings of the House: it had been increased by the demands of the great democratic electorate, which were becoming more and more heavy year by year, and which, he was afraid, were inevitable, and he therefore regarded with the utmost jealousy any unnecessary increase in the burdens placed upon the Members of the House. In the present instance the business could perfectly well be taken on Monday; there was no urgency in the matter, and he therefore supported the protest of his right hon. friend.
§ SIR F. BANBURY (City of London)said the declaration of the Prime Minister that there could be no pledges as to business, but merely provisional announcements—a declaration which confirmed a statement of the Patronage Secretary to the Treasury on Wednesday night—amounted to an absolute revolution in the procedure of the House. No Member would now know upon what day a measure in which his constituents were specially interested would come on, and he would be unable to make any preparation for debating it, while he would be equally unable to go to his constituency lest the Bill should be taken in his absence.
§ *THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER (Sir Henry Fowler, Wolverhampton, E.)stated that long 1309 agendas of business a week in advance were a novel proceeding, and one which Mr. Gladstone had declined to adopt.
§ SIR F. BANBURYsaid they were only asking to know what business was to be taken on Monday and Tuesday next—surely not a long way ahead.
§ MR. WILLIAM RUTHERFORD (Liverpool, West Derby)said he was credibly informed that the supporters of the Government had better and earlier information with regard to the Consolidated Fund Bill's being taken last Wednesday than other Members of the
§ House. That was a very unfair position in which to place a minority, however small, which was endeavouring to contribute to the business of the country.
§ MR. GEORGE WHITELEYsaid that no hint or suggestion was made from the Whips' office at any time, and if the hon. Member wished to make such a charge he thought he should substantiate it.
§ Question put.
§ The House divided:—Ayes, 219: Noes, 54. (Division List No. 89.
1311| AYES. | ||
| Abraham, William (Cork, N.E.) | Collins, Sir W. J.(S.Pancras, W. | Henry, Charles S. |
| Acland, Francis Dyke | Cooper, G. J. | Herbert, Colonel Ivor (Mon. S.) |
| Adkins, W. Ryland D. | Corbett,C.H. (Sussex,EGrinst'd | Herbert, T. Arnold (Wycombe) |
| Agnew, George William | Cornwall, Sir Edwin A. | Higham, John Sharp |
| Ainsworth, John Stirling | Cory, Clifford John | Hobart, Sir Robert |
| Alden, Percy | Cotton, Sir H.J.S. | Hogan, Michael |
| Allen, Charles P. (Stroud) | Cox, Harold | Hooper, A. G. |
| Ashton, Thomas Gair | Crombie, John William | Hutton, Alfred Eddison |
| Asquith, Rt. Hn. Herbert Henry | Crooks, William | Idris, T. H. W. |
| Atherley-Jones, L. | Crosfield, A. H. | Jenkins, J. |
| Baker, Sir John (Portsmouth) | Dewar, Arthur (Edinburgh, S.) | Johnson, John (Gateshead) |
| Baker, J. A. (Finsbury, E.) | Dewar, John A. (Inverness-sh.) | Johnson, W. (Nuneaton) |
| Baring, Godfrey (Isle of Wight) | Dickinson, W.H.(St. Pancras, N. | Jones, Sir D. Brynmor(Swansea |
| Barlow, Percy (Bedford) | Dilke, Rt. Hon. Sir Charles | Jones, Leif (Appleby) |
| Barnard, E. B. | Duckworth, James | Joyce, Michael |
| Barran, Rowland Hirst | Dunn, A. Edward (Camborne) | Kearley, Hudson E. |
| Barry, E. (Cork, S.) | Dunne, Maj. E. Martin(Walsall | Kekewich, Sir George |
| Barry, Redmond J. (Tyrone, N. | Elibank, Master of | Kelley, George D. |
| Beale, W. P. | Erskine, David C. | Lamb, Edmund G(Leominster) |
| Beauchamp, E. | Esslemont, George Birnie | Lamb, Ernest H. (Rochester) |
| Bellairs, Carlyon | Everett, R. Lacey | Lamont, Norman |
| Benn, W.(T 'w' r Hamlets, S. Geo. | Ferguson, R. C. Munro | Law, Hugh A. (Donegal, W.) |
| Bennett, E. N. | F french, Peter | Lea, Hugh Cecil(St. Pancras, E. |
| Billson, Alfred | Foster, Rt. Hon. Sir Walter | Leese, Sir J. F. (Accrington) |
| Birrell, Rt. Hon. Augustine | Fowler, Rt. Hon. Sir Henry | Lehmann, R. C. |
| Boland, John | Fullerton, Hugh | Lewis, John Herbert |
| Boulton, A. C. F. | Gill, A. H. | Lloyd-George, Rt. Hon. David |
| Brigg, John | Ginnell, L. | Lyell, Charles Henry |
| Brocklehurst, W. B. | Gladstone, Rt. Hn. Herbert John | Macdonald, J. R. (Leicester) |
| Brooke, Stopford | Grant, Corrie | Macdonald, JM (Falkirk Burgles |
| Bryce, J. Annan | Greenwood, B. (Peterborough) | Mackarness, Frederic C. |
| Burke, E. Haviland- | Greenwood, Hamar (York) | Macnamara, Dr. Thomas J. |
| Burns, Rt. Hon. John | Grey, Rt. Hon. Sir Edward | MacNeill, John Gordon Swift |
| Burnyeat, W. J. D. | Gulland, John W. | MacVeigh, Chas. (Donegal, E.) |
| Burt, Rt. Hon. Thomas | Gurdon, Sir W. Brampton | M'Callum, John M. |
| Buxton, Rt. Hn. Sydney Chas. | Gwynn, Stephen Lucius | M'Crae, George |
| Campbell-Bannerman, Sir H. | Haldane, Rt. Hon. Richard B. | M'Hugh, Patrick A. |
| Carr-Gomm, H. W. | Halpin, J. | M'Kean, John |
| Causton, Rt Hn. Richard Knight | Harcourt, Rt. Hon. Lewis | M'Kenna, Rt. Hon. Reginald |
| Cawley, Sir Frederick | Harmsworth, Cecil B. (Worc'r) | Manfield, Harry (Northants) |
| Channing, Sir Francis Allston | Harvey, A. G. C. (Rochdale) | Massie, J. |
| Cheetham, John Frederick | Harvey, W.E (Derbyshire, N. E.) | Meehan, Patrick A |
| Cherry, Rt. Hon. R. R. | Harwood, George | Menzies, Walter |
| Churchill, Winston Spencer | Haslam, Lewis (Monmouth) | Money, L. G. Chiozza |
| Clancy, John Joseph | Haworth, Arthur A. | Morley, Rt. Hon. John |
| Clough, William | Hayden, John Patrick | Murphy, John |
| Coats, Sir T. Glen (Renfrew, W | Hazel, Dr. A. E. | Myer, Horatio |
| Cobbold, Felix Thornley | Hedges, A. Paget | Nicholson, Chas N (Doncaster |
| Collins, Stephen (Lambeth) | Henderson, Arthur (Durham) | Nolan, Joseph |
| Norman, Sir Henry | Robinson, S. | Torrance, Sir A. M. |
| Norton, Captain Cecil William | Roe, Sir Thomas | Toulmin, George |
| Nuttall, Harry | Rowlands, J. | Trevelyan, Charles Philips |
| O'Brien, Patrick (Kilkenny) | Runciman, Walter | Verney, F. W. |
| O'Dowd, John | Rutherford, V. H. (Brentford) | Vivian, Henry |
| O'Kelly, James (Roscommon, N | Schwann, C. Duncan (Hyde) | Wardle, George J. |
| O'Shaughnessy, P. J. | Sears, J. E. | Waring, Walter |
| Partington, Oswald | Seaverns, J. H. | Wason, Eugene (Clackmannan) |
| Paul, Herbert | Seely, Major J. B. | Wason, John Cathcart (Orkney) |
| Pearce, William (Limehouse) | Shackleton, David James | Waterlow, D S. |
| Pearson, W.H.M.(Suffolk, Eye) | Shaw, Rt. Hn. T. (Hawick B.) | Wedgwood, Josiah C. |
| Power, Patrick Joseph | Shipman, Dr. John G. | White, George (Norfolk) |
| Price, C. E. (Edinb' gh, Central) | Sinclair, Rt. Hon. John | White, J. D (Dumbartonsh. |
| Price, Robert John (Norfolk, E. | Smeaton, Donald Mackenzie | White, Luke (York, E. R.) |
| Priestley, W.E.B. (Bradford, E. | Smyth, Thomas F. (Leitrim, S. | Whitehead, Rowland |
| Pullar, Sir Robert | Soames, Arthur Wellesley | Whitley, John Henry (Halifax) |
| Raphael, Herbert H. | Spicer, Sir Albert | Wilkie, Alexander |
| Rea, Walter Russell (Scarboro' | Stanley, Hn. A. Lyulph (Chesh.) | Wilson, Henry J (York, W. R.) |
| Redmond, John E. (Waterford) | Straus, B. S. (Mile End) | Wilson, P. W. (St. Pancras, S.) |
| Redmond, William (Clare) | Strauss, E. A. (Abingdon) | Yoxall, James Henry |
| Reps, J. D. | Sutherland, J. E. | |
| Rendall, Athelstan | Taylor, Theodore C. (Radcliffe) | TELLERS FOR THE AYES— |
| Richards, T.F.(Wolverh 'mpt' n) | Tennant, Sir Edw. (Salisbury) | Mr. Whiteley and Mr. J. A. Pease |
| Ridsdale, E. A. | Thomasson, Franklin | |
| Roberts, Charles H. (Lincoln) | Thorne, William | |
| Robertson, Sir G. Scoot (Bradf' rd | Tomkinson, James | |
| NOES | ||
| Acland-Hood, Rt. Hn. Sir A. F. | Craik, Sir Henry | Powell, Sir Francis Sharp |
| Anstruther-Gray, Major | Cross, Alexander | Randles, Sir John Scurrah |
| Ashley, W. W. | Douglas, Rt. Hn. A. Akers- | Remnant, James Farquharson |
| Aubrey-Fletcher, Rt. Hn. Sir H | Duncan, Robert (Lanark, Govan | Rutherford, W. W. (Liverpool) |
| Balcarres, Lord | Faber, George Denision (York) | Sandys, Lieut.-Col. Thos. Myles |
| Banbury, Sir Frederick George | Finch, Rt. Hon. George H. | Sassoon, Sir Edward Albert |
| Baring, Hon. Guy(Winchester) | Fletcher, J. S. | Sheffield, Sir Berkeley George D. |
| Beckett, Hon. Gervase | Gardner, Ernest (Berks, East) | Smith, Hon. W. F. D. (Strand) |
| Bignold, Sir Arthur | Helmsley, Viscount | Starkey, John R. |
| Bowles, G. Stewart | Hill, Sir Clement (Shrewsbury) | Stone, Sir Benjamin |
| Bridgeman, W. Clive | Hornby, Sir William Henry | Talbot, Lord E. (Chichester) |
| Butcher, Samuel Henry | Hunt, Rowland | Thomson, W. Mitchell-(Lanark) |
| Carlile, E. Hildred | Kenyon-Slaney, RtHn. Col. W. | Vincent, Col. Sir C. E. Howard |
| Cave, George | Lambton, Hn. Frederick Wm. | Wilson, A. Stanley (York, E.R. |
| Cavendish, Rt. Hn. Victor C.W. | Liddell, Henry | |
| Cecil, Lord R. (Marylebone, E.) | Long, Col. Chas. W. (Evesham) | TELLERS FOR THE NOES— |
| Chamberlain, Rt Hn. JA.(Worc.) | Magnus, Sir Philip | Viscount Valentia and Mr. Forster. |
| Collings, Rt. Hn. J. (Birming' m | Middlemore, J. Throgmorton | |
| Corbett, T. L. (Down, North) | O'Neill, Hon. Robert Torrens | |
| Craig, Chas. Curtis (Antrim, S.) | Percy, Earl |