§ On the Motion for the adjournment of the House,
§ EARL ST. ALDWYN said: I should like to ask the noble Marquess who leads the. House a question. At the commencement of our proceedings to-day he stated that the Order in Council for postponing the date of Disestablishment under the Welsh Church Act until the end of the war was signed this morning. I do not know whether he is able to tell us what terms were used in that Order as explaining what is meant by the "end of the war." That phrase appears in the Amending Act of last year which empowered the issue of this Order in Council, and it finds a place in a good many Acts that have been passed in the course of the last twelve months. But it appears to me to be a most indefinite phrase, and I ask whether some precise interpretation by Statute cannot be applied to it—as, for example, the date of the ratification of the Treaty of Peace between the belligerents, or something of that kind. It is obvious that the phrase is open to more than one interpretation, at any rate to the ordinary mind. I do not know whether there is any legal interpretation of it, but I have never heard of one. Will His Majesty's Government consider this matter, and, if they think it necessary that there should be a definite interpretation of the phrase, propose legislation on the subject? With regard to the Welsh Church Act it is very important that the precise date should be known. As the noble Marquess is aware, many very important things happen on the date of Disestablishment which could not be recalled if they had once happened.
§ THE EARL OF CROMERMy Lords, I have frequently drawn the attention of noble Lords opposite to this point, and I understood from what my noble friend Lord Curzon said on a recent occasion that the Government had it under consideration, and that there was to be a general Act introduced at some time or another which would state exactly what was meant by the phrase "the end of the war." That is the case, is it not?
THE MARQUESS OF CREWEMy Lords, I do not remember exactly the words in which my noble friend Lord Curzon spoke on this subject, although, like the two 807 noble Earls, I have a distinct recollection of this subject having been raised before, indeed more than once, and I fully recognise its importance. If the noble Earl will allow me, I will consult my colleagues once more in order to see what steps can properly be taken—I confess I do not see why they should not be taken fairly soon—with a view of arriving at some final definition of this obscure date, which, as we all know, appears in various Acts of Parliament, and of which, so far as I 808 am aware, no authorised interpretation has been given either in this or in the of her House.