CAPTAIN CRAIGI beg to ask the Prime Minister whether the statement of the President of the Board of Trade at Dundee on 9th October on the subject of Home Rule was made with the sanction of the Cabinet; and, if so, will a Bill be introduced dealing with the matter before the present Government go to the country.
§ MR. ASQUITHThe statement of my right hon. friend was made on his own responsibility. The policy of the Government has been clearly explained in the declarations made by me in the earlier part of the session, to which I have nothing to add.
CAPTAIN CRAIGWill it be possible for the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues to come to some agreement on this important subject, in view of the unrest and unsettlement which these electioneering speeches from Members of the Government cause among the law abiding and respectable people in Ireland?
§ MR. ASQUITHI am not aware of any difference of opinion amongst Members of the Government on this subject, and I am 765 afraid that nothing I can say will allay these feelings of apprehension and unrest.
§ VISCOUNT HELMSLEY (Yorkshire, N.R., Thirsk)If there is no difference of opinion between the right hon. Gentleman and the President of the Board of Trade, does the right hon. Gentleman endorse what the President of the Board of Trade has said?
§ MR. ASQUITHThere is no difference of opinion.
§ MR. R. DUNCAN (Lanarkshire, Govan)Are we to take it that when a Minister makes a rash statement, silence gives consent?
§ [No Answer was returned.]