§ Mr. Arthur LewisOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I know that it is not customary for one to give details, but you will recall that I tried to raise with you this morning the matter of a Private Notice Question. I ask you, Sir, to look at the general principle rather than the particular case. You know that my Private Notice Question concerned—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I am listening to the hon. Gentleman, but he must not tell us what the Private Notice Question was about.
§ Mr. LewisI accept that, Mr. Speaker. My first remark was to say that I appreciated that I could not give details, and I shall not do so, but it was a matter of extreme urgency and one which could have had tragic consequences.
I approached your office in the normal way to put the Question in within the required period, and, it being a matter of extreme urgency, I tried through all the channels available to bring the Question before you. I make no complaint against anyone, but it is the fact that, because your telephone line was extremely busy, perhaps, or the telephonist could not get through, the Question was disallowed by a matter of four minutes. Again, I make no comment or complaint, but I ask you to consider the matter from the point of view of general principle.
If an hon. Member wishes to raise a Question by Private Notice concerning a matter of danger but in regard to which tragedy might still be averted, and he is unable to get through to you because your line is engaged or, perhaps, the telephone is out of action, would you consider the possibility of some method whereby the Member could get someone else to come along, or even approach you yourself within minutes?
I submit, Mr. Speaker, that, if the Question raises a matter of extreme urgency, with the possibility of tragedy 769 ensuing, it would be right for you to extend the time allowed by minutes in such an event. In the particular case this morning, Sir, the telephonist can verify that I was fully in time in making my approach.
§ Mr. SpeakerI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for putting his point so clearly. May I say at the outset that Mr. Speaker and his advisers are always sympathetic to Private Notice Questions, because, in the nature of things, in the opinion of the hon. Member concerned, a Private Notice Question is vitally important. Mr. Speaker, therefore, always gives them most serious consideration. However, having said that, I must point out that the rule about time is absolute.
Applications for Private Notice Questions from Monday to Thursday must be in by noon, and applications on Friday must be in by 10 a.m. This makes sense. Mr. Speaker and his advisers have to consider all the implications of any Private Notice Question, and adequate notice must be given to the Minister if he allows it to be raised.
As for the hon. Gentleman's problem this morning, I sympathise with him. I am not, however, responsible for the telephone system of Great Britain. Mr. Speaker is on duty at nine o'clock in the morning; his office was manned from a quarter past nine. The hon. Gentleman's application came to Mr. Speaker's office and to the Table at four minutes past 10. If we varied the times of the practice of the House, we should set out on a slippery slope; 10.4 would become 10.10, which, in turn, would become 10.15 and so on. I have 770 no power to vary the times of the House. Indeed, on one painful occasion when I attempted to do so, the House reproved me.
§ Mr. Arthur LewisI thank you for what you have said, Mr. Speaker, and I entirely accept it, but I am asking you to look at the matter again with a view to modifying the absolute rule. We understand the reason for the rule, but the point I make is that a matter could come up—as it did in the case of my Question this morning, to which I shall not further refer—in such a short time that the Member concerned would have no more than, perhaps, 10 minutes altogether from the datum line.
I am asking you, Mr. Speaker, to consider the matter in the context of a question of extreme urgency or possible tragedy, when there is not the normal time or for some good reason the Member is unable to get in touch absolutely within the time laid down. Could you, Mr. Speaker, have opportunity to decide that in the particular instance, though not as a general rule, it would be right to accept a Private Notice Question? As I say, the telephone might be out of order or there might be some other breakdown or difficulty. Moreover, the announcement of the matter giving rise to likelihood of tragedy might occur only a minute or so before 10 o'clock.
§ Mr. SpeakerI am completely seized of all that the hon. Gentleman is arguing. I am often asked—to quote Shakespeare—to do a great right by doing a little wrong. But I cannot vary the times as established by the practice of the House.