§ Mr. LoverseedMr. Speaker, I wish to draw attention to an inaccuracy in the OFFICIAL REPORT in the answer to a Question asked by me on Tuesday last of the Secretary of State for War. I had Questions 23 and 24 on the Order Paper, but I had given notice at the Table that 1100 Question 23 was postponed for a week. I received a reply from the Secretary of State for War in answer to Question 24, which was to the effect that he was writing to me on the subject On the following day I found that the answer given in the OFFICIAL REPORT was quite different from that which was given in the House, and was one with which I could not, in any circumstances, have been satisfied at the time. Is it in Order that the answer printed in the OFFICIAL REPORT should remain, or can it be expunged and the other answer given?
§ Mr. SpeakerI really cannot see how one can give in HANSARD the wrong answer to a Question. Some responsibility in this matter attaches to the hon. Member himself. Having received the wrong answer, he might have said at the time: "This is not the answer to my Question." As to putting down the Question again, I do not know whether that is possible, since the Question has already been fully answered.
§ The Secretary of State for War (Sir James Grigg)Might I say that I received no notice of the postponement of this Question? Therefore, there being two Questions on the Paper by the hon. Member immediately following each other, it was, perhaps, a natural mistake on my part to read out the first answer. I certainly had no notice of any postponement.
§ Mr. SpeakerI would point out further to the hon. Member, that HANSARD published the right answer to the Question in order to safeguard the hon. Member himself. If the first Question had been fully answered, the hon. Member could not have put it down again the following week.