§ The following Question stood upon the Order Paper in the name of CAPTAIN STRICKLAND:
§ 34. To ask the Minister of Information whether his attention has been called to the fact that a German airman prisoner of war has been placed in a ward in a Midland hospital with some of the victims of his bombs; that he had asked whether his bombs had caused any harm, and that, 1698 after exhibiting fear that he was so placed he had expressed his regret; and whether, in view of the resentment expressed by the public and subscribers at such callousness on the part of the hospital authorities, he is in a position to make a statement on the matter?
§ Captain StricklandThe Question I wish to ask is: "To ask the Minister of Information, whether his attention has been called to a statement made in certain newspapers," and not "to the fact"?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. and gallant Member must know that this is quite contrary to the Rules. He must accept and take responsibility for what he says being the fact, and not refer to newspapers.
§ Captain StricklandOn a point of Order. The form in which this Question is now put makes me responsible for what is a libel on the hospitals of this country, and I feel that if that is the Rule, it should be altered. I feel that I cannot put the Question in the form in which it has been altered without my consent. I knew nothing about the alteration.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe best thing to do is not to put the Question.
§ Captain StricklandWith your permission, Mr. Speaker, may I raise this point at the end of Questions?
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. and gallant Member can do so, but I have nothing further to say beyond what I have already said. It is quite contrary to the Rule.
§ Captain StricklandWell, Sir, I decline to put the Question in that form.
Miss RathboneMr. Speaker, will you, consider the effect of this Rule in obliging many Members to take the responsibility for a thing being true, when they merely want to ascertain whether the thing is true? If that is the Rule, may we respectfully ask whether it should not be reconsidered?
§ Mr. SpeakerAfter a very long experience of Questions, we have found it to be so much better that, in putting Questions, Members should make themselves responsible for the statements they make in the Question, and not put the responsibility on to a newspaper.
§ At the end of Questions—
§ Captain StricklandMr. Speaker, with your sanction and with a sense of justice 1699 to the House, I should like to rise to make a point of personal explanation in regard to a Question on the Order Paper to-day. It is necessary for me to do this because, by the alteration of the form of the Question that I put down, I am made responsible for a very crude slander which has been raised against a hospital in the Midlands, with reference to a recent occurrence in which a German aeroplane was brought down, and two wounded German airmen were taken prisoners and taken into a certain hospital. The form in which I put the Question was:
Whether the Minister of Information has had his attention drawn to a statement which appeared in the papers?I had no knowledge whatsoever that the form of the Question had been altered to a form in which I myself called attention to a fact, when I could not possibly put that Question in that form. Unquestionably, a lot of harm may have been done to me personally by an accusation which may well be brought that I have merely succeeded in spreading this slander. It does seem to me that, if it is the Rule—and I understand it is the Rule—that we cannot call attention to a statement in the papers, a great privilege of criticism is removed from the rights of the Members of this House.The whole of the facts contained in this paper were utterly false. I took the precaution to send the papers in question and a full statement from the governors of the particular hospital, of which I am one, to the Minister of Information so that he would be aware of what had happened. In spite of this, one of these papers persisted, and published the further statement that in this hospital the nurses had petted a fair-haired, blue-eyed prisoner of war and that the ladies of Coventry were sending gifts of cigarettes and flowers to this man. This is entirely a journalistic invention, and it seems to me to be a cruel thing that a Member of the House should be forced to put on his own shoulders a statement that this is a fact in order to call attention to a grave injustice to our hospital system. I wanted to make this explanation for fear that people outside the House might think that I believed this to be a fact, owing to this alteration. I would suggest that, when an alteration of such serious import is made to a Question, the Member should be informed, so that he could withdraw 1700 the Question and prevent its obtaining the publicity which this Question has obtained in the Press. Further, I should like to point out that the Rule against calling attention to articles in newspapers is apparently not always enforced, because only to-day in a Supplementary Question the hon. Member for East Wolverhampton (Mr. Mander) asked the Minister whether his attention had not been called to an article which appears in the "Times" this morning in regard to the supply of oil to Japan, and that was allowed to be put, and an answer was given. I thank you, Sir, and the House for the courtesy with which they have listened to me.
§ Mr. SpeakerI am sorry the hon. and gallant Gentleman was not aware that the Question that he handed in had been altered so as to make it conform with the Rules. Notice to him ought properly to have been given, but I would call his attention to the fact that the Question was on the Paper for a week, so that, if he had seen the Order Paper, he would have seen that the Question had been altered to the form in which it appears on the Paper. As regards the other matter to which he drew attention, about something in a newspaper being referred to in a Supplementary Question, I very often call Members to order for referring to a newspaper in a Supplementary Question, but there are occasions on which a Minister in his answer may have referred to some statement of this kind, and it would be allowable in a Supplementary.
§ Captain StricklandI did not receive the Order Papers, owing to delay in the post, until two days ago, and I was not aware that the Question had been altered.