§ Mr. NEWMANasked whether, in view of the short space that has elapsed between the introduction of the National Insurance Bill and the date fixed for its 248 Second Reading, coupled with the fact that as at present arranged two Parliamentary days only are to be allotted to the Second Reading stage, he will undertake that the Committee stage shall not be commenced before 1st July at the earliest; and whether, in view of the uncertainty and apprehension that exists among important classes of the community, he will recommend the appointment of three small Select Committees who will be empowered during the next few weeks to receive the views and evidence of the medical interest, those connected with insurance collecting societies, and large employers of labour respectively, and submit such evidence in the form of reports, to be available to Members before the Committee stage is entered on?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Asquith)The Government will take care that there is an ample interval between the Second Reading and the Committee stages. I am afraid I cannot adopt the suggestion in the form in which I wrote my question.