Mr. LEVERTON HARRISasked the Prime Minister, if he could state on how many days, known as allotted days, Supply had been taken as the first Order of the Day since the presentation of Estimates; when is it proposed to restore to the Committee of the House their right under the Standing Order of a regular discussion of Estimates on Thursday in each week; and whether, in view of the increase of the Estimates under the present Government, he will consider the propriety of affording such facilities for discussion at an early date instead of postponing Supply days to the concluding days of the Parliamentary Session?
§ The PRIME MINISTERDuring the present Session, Supply has been taken as the first Order of the day upon five allotted days; but, as the fifth day was a Friday, the total, in Parliamentary arithmetic, is four and a half. The total allotted days taken up to 12th April from 1904 to 1909 inclusive, was as follows:—
From which it is apparent that the time allotted this Session is up to the average. I would remind the House that practically the whole of the second, third, and fourth weeks of this Session was devoted to Supply; that the Consolidated Fund Bill was taken in the fifth week, and that the last fortnight has been allotted to procedure relative to finance. There is no intention to postpone Supply days until the concluding days of the Parliamentary Session, nor to depart from the spirit of Standing Order 15 more than is required by the circumstances and consequences of an unprecedented financial situation.
1904 … … … 5 1905 … … … 4 1906 … … … 5 1907 … … … 5 1908 … … … 5 1909 … … … 4