§ Mr. DEVLINI have on previous occasions, at this stage of the: business of the House, raised the question of extending the time for asking and receiving answers to questions, and you were good enough, Mr. Speaker, to say that when the House had a larger experience, especially the newer Members of this Assembly, it might be possible to limit the number of questions so that no need would arise for enlarging the time afforded to Members in putting questions to Ministers. I am sorry to say that your hope in that regard has not been fulfilled. Or, the contrary, questions are increasing, and it is a great inconvenience to Members that twenty, thirty, and sometimes forty, questions remain on the Paper unanswered. I have put one question down four times and have not received an answer. The Minister for War, with characteristic elusiveness, has been able to circumvent any efforts that I have made to get information with regard to the proclaiming of a meeting of mine in the North of Ireland. This is a very great injustice to Members. We have an opportunity of discussing the Army in Russia, but we are not allowed to discuss the Army in Ireland, and the only opportunity I have is to put down this question. You stated on a former occasion that a great amount of the time of the House was occupied in the putting of supplementary questions. I ventured then to assert, and I do so now with all the greater authority, that supplementary questions are a most valuable part of business at Question-time. We had evidence lately by a very distinguished member of the Government before a Select Committee that nobody believed 629 any answers that were given to direct questions. I think that was practically the only interpretation that could be put upon the evidence given by the Noble Lord. Therefore, supplementary questions are most valuable, and I do not think it is any loss of time to have these supplementary questions. I respectfully invite you to do what you promised in the earlier part of the Session, namely, to submit to the judgment of the House whether an additional fifteen minutes ought not to be given to questions. I have another reason for making this appeal. During last week the House rose twice about four hours before the normal time for want of any business, and especially for want of any Government business, because the Government have taken over the whole time of the House. It is most unfair to those private Members whose only value in this House is to secure information on the questions that concern their Constituents, and they only have Question-time for performing that public duty. I therefore respectfully ask that you will consent to at least an additional fifteen minutes being given for questions and answers.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. Member has misconceived the situation. The matter does not rest with me at all, as I pointed out on a previous occasion. It is a matter for the House. I am only obeying the Standing Orders. The Standing Orders would require to be altered.
§ Mr. DEVLINThat was the declaration you made on the previous occasion, that it was a matter for the House to determine. Perhaps I might address a question to the Leader of the House, who has always been most courteous and anxious to have these matters properly adjusted. I ask him now, in all seriousness, whether, in a Parliament where two evenings in one week are absolutely lost to Members, he will really consider whether the request that I make is not an exceedingly reasonable one, and that there ought to be at least an additional fifteen minutes for questions? If he is not prepared to make this concession, perhaps he will take the judgment of the House upon the matter.
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI think I have said before that this is a question in regard to which the Government would certainly be guided by what they believed to be the general wish of the House. I have so far seen no general indication that the hon. Member does express the general wish of the House; but I promise to consider the 630 matter. As to the complaint that the House rose early on two occasions, I do not agree with the hon. Member. If the House gets through its business quicker than we expect, I think it should have the benefit of an early rising.
§ Mr. DEVLINIf the House thinks the business of the Government is so unimportant that it does not think worth while to discuss it, and if, on the other hand, the House considers that there are a series of most important matters which require to be considered and cleared up in the House, ought not the time which is lost at night to be given in the earlier part of the day?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI have promised to consider the general question, but I think the hon. Member is wrong in regard to the other matter. The merits of a Bill are surely not to be judged by the amount of talk on it.
§ Sir D. MACLEANWill the right hon. Gentleman make arrangements that on Thursdays the Prime Minister's questions should begin at twenty-five instead of forty-five?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI think that is a reasonable suggestion and I have already arranged it with my Noble Friend.
§ Mr. DEVLINI raised this matter not for the purpose of discussion but for decision. Will the right hon. Gentleman arrange that the Prime Minister should give an additional fifteen minutes to questions, or will he give the House an opportunity in some form of deciding the matter for itself?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI have promised to consider the matter. I do not know whether it will be necessary to have a formal debate. Up to now we have always found other methods of discovering the opinion of the House, and I promise the hon. Member that we will consider the matter.
§ Colonel MILDMAYWould the difficulty not be partly met by confining each Member to two questions?
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSArising out of the right hon. Gentleman's announcement that on Thursday the Prime Minister's questions will begin at twenty-five, may I draw his attention to the fact that it is only on Thursdays that we get an opportunity of asking questions from the 631 Minister of Health, and that his questions never come on before Question 25. In view of this new arrangement, will the right hon. Gentleman take steps to consult the Minister of Health to see that his questions are readied earlier on some other day of the week?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWHon. Members will see the difficulty of making any alteration. Certainly the Ministry of Health questions ought to be asked, and I shall consider the best method of dealing with that matter. As regards what has been said by the hon, and gallant Member (Colonel Mildmay), the House will see that that is an indication that I was right in saying that there is no evidence that the House desires to extend the limit.
§ Mr. DEVLINI am sorry to press this matter, but I would point out that the best evidence that can possibly be given as to the anxiety of the House to have a larger amount of time for this particular branch of its public business is that there are thirty or forty questions every day left on the Paper unanswered. If the time of the House is so precious that Members are to be robbed of the most valuable occupation they have in this House—in my opinion the only occupation they have in the House—why should several hours be lost on two evenings in one week?
§ Colonel GREIGIs it not a fact that every question on the Order Paper is always read and answered, and that the only reason why they are not answered in the House is that the list is too long, that any hon. Member can have his question answered in manuscript on the same day, and that the only reason why they are postponed from day to day is that the Member himself postpones them?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWI can say nothing more. What my hon. Friend has just said is perfectly true. Of course, the hon. Member for Belfast wishes that Members should have the advantage of putting supplementary questions to Ministers. I think there have been several cases, I remember one particularly, where, when there has been a strong desire expressed in the House, there has been a memorial signed by half the Members. Should not something of that kind be done in this case?
§ Mr. DEVLINWill the right hon. Gentleman draft a memorial?