§ Mr. Pethick-LawrenceMay I ask the Leader of the House whether he has any statement to make on to-day's Business?
§ The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Eden)It might facilitate matters if I told the House the proposal we have in mind. The Class X Votes down for consideration in Committee of Supply to-day are of a technical nature and some of the others may not keep the Committee very long. Hon. Members, I anticipate, wish to debate the last Vote, that for the Treasury which contains the salary of the Minister of Reconstruction. I hope, however, that we need not spend very long in considering the Supplementary Estimates. I propose that we should then resume the adjourned Debate on Second Reading of the House of Commons Disqualification (Temporary Provisions) Bill, for which purpose I propose to move the suspension of the Rule, purely as a precautionary measure. Afterwards, if all goes well, we would like to take the Public Works Loans Bill and the Committee stage of the necessary Money Resolution; the remaining stages of the Guardianship (Refugee Children) Bill [Lords], and the Second Reading of the Prize Salvage Bill [Lords]. These must be taken before the usual hour for rising.
§ Mr. ShinwellMay I put it to my right hon. Friend that the Debate on the Supplementary Estimate relating to the salary of the Minister of Reconstruction, may take much longer than he seems to anticipate. Very wide issues are involved. Although we cannot discuss policy, the points involved are much wider in their implications than might at first seem to be the case. In those circumstances, I wonder whether my right hon. Friend would exclude it from the list for to-day and provide a more ample opportunity of discussing it later, or whether he would exclude some of the other Votes.
§ Mr. EdenIf it should prove to be the case that the Debate took a long time, I 2010 would not be able to get the other Bills I mentioned. Those Bills, as I say, would have to be taken before the normal hour for rising. But I do not anticipate that the Debate on the Vote mentioned by my hon. Friend, will be very long.