§ Mr. DEVLINOn Friday last I put a series of questions down to the Minister of Labour when I attended here in the usual course to put them, neither the Minister nor his Parliamentary representative was present. When I complained to you, you stated that, although it was customary last Session to have questions put and answered on Fridays, there was no necessity for Ministers to attend to answer questions. I thought if that were so, that it was a strange thing that these questions should be put upon the Paper at all, but, in view of your ruling, I did not contest the matter further. I put the questions down again for to-day, but I find that they are not on the Paper, and that neither the Minister nor his assistant is here. I would therefore like to have some explanation.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI understand that the hon. Gentleman gave no notice at the Table of the postponement of the questions, and the answers were, therefore, circulated in the ordinary way on Saturday morning.
§ Mr. DEVLINImmediately you gave your decision I cut the questions out and left them on the Table.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe proper course would be to inform the clerk at the Table that you wished to postpone the questions till Monday; then the answers would not be circulated.
§ Mr. DEVLINI marked "Monday" on the questions when I handed them in at the Table. I did not want a written answer to the questions; if I had wished for that I should have handed them in for written answers. But I knew I would get an unsatisfactory reply, and I wanted to take advantage of that unsatisfactory reply to make use of it on the Motion for Adjournment.
§ Mr. SPEAKERIt appears that your notice was never received at the Table.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEBut has a Minister any right to circulate a question which has been postponed?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe Minister does not circulate questions; he only circulates the answers.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEI accept your correction, Sir. May I repeat my question anew on the point of Order: Whether or not a Minister has any right to circulate an answer to a question without the permission of the hon. Gentleman who has put it down?
§ Mr. SPEAKERIf the question is not reached, then the Minister hands in the reply, which will be circulated on the next day and appear in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEBut have you not on many occasions ruled that a Minister has no right to circulate an answer when the question itself has been postponed by the Member? Are we to understand this is a new ruling?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat is exactly what I said. If the question is not postponed, then it is the duty of the Minister to hand in his reply, which is circulated the next morning in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKEBut surely, if I may be allowed to say so, you yourself directed the hon. Member for Belfast to postpone his questions, and that therefore was a postponement of them?
§ Mr. SPEAKERI gave no instructions to anybody. What I said was that if the hon. Member for the Falls Division of Belfast had given notice at the Table that he wished his questions postponed, then they would have been postponed. But no such notice was received.