§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I beg to ask the noble Marquess who leads the House whether he is able to give us any information as to the course of business during the next few days.
THE LORD PRIVY SEAL AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (THE MARQUESS OF CREWE)My Lords, I think it will be for the convenience of the House if I say a word, in response to the Question of the noble Marquess, on at any rate the possible course of business during the coming week. As the House is aware, the Prime Minister has to-day in another place introduced for First Reading a Bill in connection with coal mining. The introduction of that Bill 502 is brought about by the fact, which is familiar to all your Lordship, that after a series of negotiation conducted with great patience, in which His Majesty's Government have done their best to assist in bringing about an agreement, it has not been found possible to arrive at an agreement between the two parties except by some form of legislation, and it is hoped that when a measure has been passed through Parliament the passing of that measure will lead to immediate resumption of work in the coal mines. That being so, it is clearly important that the measure should be passed into law as soon as possible, because every, day's delay in the resumption of work brings about not merely a continued stoppage of the particular industry involved, but also the possibility of much distress to other industries not concerned in the particular dispute.
The suggestion which the Prime Minister made yesterday in another place was that he should ask leave to-day for the introduction of the Bill, that the Second Reading should be taken to-morrow, and that the House of Commons should agree that the Bill should be passed through all its remaining stages on Thursday. That procedure, if taken, would enable the measure to he read a first time late on Thursday here, and we should then ask your Lordships to proceed with the Second Reading on Friday. But it was pointed out by members of the Opposition in another place that this procedure, particularly the absence of any delay between the First and Second Readings, would give the House of Commons but a short time to consider the features of the Bill, of which until to-day they are naturally ignorant; and it appeared to be suggested accordingly that, instead of taking the Second Reading to-morrow the Second Reading should be taken on Thursday, and that all the remaining stages of the measure should be passed in the House of Commons on Friday. That would prevent the Bill from reaching us here until Saturday; and in view of the urgency of the matter we should in that case I fear be compelled to ask the House to sit on Saturday for its consideration. I am quite certain that when important business is on foot your Lordships would not object to the unusual course of sitting on Saturday; but, on the other hand, you might reason- 503 ably take exception to being asked to pass a Bill through all its stages on Saturday, in the course of a single day, and might complain that the time would be unduly short, and certainly I should not say that such a complaint was unreasonable. Neither should I say that in itself, in the abstract, the desire of the House of Commons to have a clear day between the First and Second Readings was an unreasonable one; but we might venture to point out that with only five days altogether available for the discussion of this measure it seems, on the face of it, a little hard that four of them should be allotted to another place and only one to us here.
I say, my Lords, that the urgency of passing the Bill if possible this week is considerable, not merely on the general grounds that every day of delay which postpones the resumption of work in the mines is a misfortune in itself, but we are told that if the measure, assuming it to be approved by Parliament, does not become law this week, or at any rate does not pass through both Houses this week, leaving out the question for the moment of the Royal Assent, there is some risk that a whole week of delay in the resumption of work may thereby be caused. It may not seem altogether reasonable that it should be so, but we are given to understand that if the measure became law this week there would be a good prospect of resumption of work beginning on Monday, whereas if it was not passed until an early day next week the resumption of work might be postponed until the beginning of the week after, and that would be from every point of view, as I am sure the House will agree, a national misfortune. I have thought it well to explain to the House at some length what the precise position is, because in any case we have. I am well aware to call upon the House not merely for a sitting on an unaccustomed day but for a hurried procedure. It is, of course, quite clear that your Lordships cannot give any kind of promise or engagement to pass the measure until you know exactly what it contains, nor until you see it can you say in what form you will pass it; but I think it is important for the House to understand that the matter is one of great urgency and of the most serious moment. I am convinced, therefore, that 504 the House will be disposed to do all in their power to help His Majesty's Government, assuming that they approve of the measure, to make it into law as soon as possible.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, the noble Marquess has explained with great clearness the position as it presents itself to His Majesty's Government, but I think those of us who have been listening to him must feel that so far as this House is concerned the position is a very unusual and a very trying one. I understand that the Bill will reach this House late on Friday night, and that it is suggested that we might pass it through the whole of its stages on Saturday. Now this I will take upon myself to say without hesitation, that no consideration of private convenience in a case of this kind would prevent us from doing anything that we legitimately could to meet a great public necessity. But, my Lords, it is a very grave proposal that this House should deal with a measure of such momentous importance in a single day and under circumstances which obviously render it quite impossible that we should even, except as a mere matter of form, suggest any amendment in the Bill.
The noble Marquess has made it clear that he justifies his request because he and his colleagues have reason to believe that if the Bill becomes law this week there is at any rate a good prospect that work will be resumed on Monday next, while if the discussion of the Bill were to go over into next week in the view of the noble Marquess a whole week might be lost, and the resumption of work would take place, not on Monday, but probably a week later. That is, of course, a very material consideration. I should, however, be glad if the noble Marquess would tell us whether he is satisfied that both parties to this dispute—the coal owners and the miners—would be ready to facilitate such an immediate resumption as he hopes for in the event of the Bill becoming law. That is a question which he may be able to answer. Whether your Lordships will be prepared to meet the proposal of His Majesty's Government I cannot, of course, take upon myself to say until I have had an opportunity of conferring with those who usually act with us. The matter is a very serious 505 one for this House and I am quite sure that the noble Marquess would not expect me on the spur of the moment to give him any expression, even of my own personal opinion, as to the possibility of adopting the unusual course which he has suggested.
THE MARQUESS OF CREWEIn reply to the noble Marquess I ought to explain that I did not altogether abandon the hope that the proceedings in another place in connection with the Bill might be concluded on Thursday night, in which case we should be able to take the Bill here on Friday, with the prospect, if it were desired, of continuing the discussion on Saturday. I may venture to remind the House that that was our original proposition, and the alternative proposition which would put it a day later here would only be entertained in deference to the strong views expressed in another place by the Leader of the Opposition there. Our original proposition would have got the Bill here on Friday.
As regards the question of the resumption of work beginning next week, it is, of course, difficult, as I am sure the noble Marquess will appreciate, to speak of that in tones of any certainty. What I am prepared to say is that the hanging up of the Bill for another week would, in my opinion, endanger the resumption of work, because it would or might create the impression in the minds of the men, or of some of them, that there was an intention here to make some alterations in the terms or the scope of the Bill—alterations which they would naturally assume would not be in favour of their point of view—and a certain atmosphere of suspicion would thereby be created which we should all agree would be a misfortune. In any case, I am afraid we cannot regard it as a probability that all over England, Scotland and Wales men will return to work with a rush, either on Monday or on any other day. The resumption of work is bound to be a somewhat gradual process, varying, no doubt, with the exigencies and possibilities of different districts; but I am certainly prepared to say that in the view of His Majesty's Government the suspension of the Bill over Sunday would defer, and might endanger for some time, that resumption of work which we are all so anxious to see.