THE EARL OF MAYOasked Her Majesty's Government when the proposed new Commission on the Financial Relations between Great Britain and Ireland was to be appointed?
§ THE PRIME MINISTERMy Lords, it will be appointed as soon as we have a sufficient number of persons to constitute a Commission, but there is not that passionate desire to take part in the deliberations of the Commission that we could wish. And, as I have already had the pleasure of pointing out to my noble Friend, I think, on another occasion, there is always the difficulty, when you are dealing with Irish subjects, that impartiality is a rarer and more precious gift than it is when you are dealing with English subjects. Selection, therefore, is a matter of considerable difficulty, and, as often happens in these cases, the people who could serve the best are the least willing, and the people who are the most trilling are the least able to render adequate assistance. Under this difficulty we are doing our best, and I have no doubt we shall in a very short time have an adequate Commission to produce. I am merely representing to my 702 noble Friend that it is no laches or fault on the part of the Government, but merely the inherent difficulties of the question, that have caused the matter to be delayed for so long.