§ THE MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON:My Lords, may I ask the Lord Chancellor whether we meet at eleven o'clock to-morrow?
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR:Yes, if your Lordships are agreeable, and I think we shall be able to take the Royal Commission very soon after.
§ THE MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON:Can the Lord Chancellor give us any idea as to what will be the business to-morrow?
§ LORD PARMOOR:May I reply to that question? There will be the Appropriation Bill, and it may be that the Agricultural Wages Bill will have to come back to us again. If the Amendment is accepted, of course it will not come back.
§ THE MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON:The Lord Chancellor, at an earlier stage this afternoon, gave us a repetition of the statement which had been made in another place on the Irish situation. I am informed that a statement, which I have not yet seen in the newspapers and of which I am not cognisant, has also been made with regard to the negotiations 499 with Russia. Is the Lord Chancellor prepared to make any statement on that question?
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR:I am in the same position as the noble Marquess. I have not seen the statement.
THE MARQUESS CUEZON OF KEDLESTON:The Lord Chancellor may be unaware of the statement that has been made, but I assume that he has a certain responsibility as a member of the Government, and I assume that if His Majesty's Government has arrived at a decision the Lord Chancellor is cognisant of it. If that is the case I am sure we shall be glad if he can give us an idea as to what the Government have decided to do.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR:My difficulty is this. The noble Marquess says that there has been a statement made in the House of Commons to-night on the question of Russia. All I can say is that I have not heard of it. It may be that there has been such a statement in which case it will come to me in due course. After all, human nature is limited.
§ THE MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON:But human nature likes a plain answer to a plain question, and the question I desire to put to the Lord 500 Chancellor is whether His Majesty's Government have come to an agreement or not. It is quite immaterial to the question as to whether, a statement has been made in another place.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR:If they have it has been subsequent to anything that has come to my cognisance. It may be that they have come to some agreement. If so, I have not been informed of it.
§ VISCOUNT CECIL OF CHELWOOD:May I ask the Lord Chancellor if he knows whether it is a fact or not that the-Government have undertaken to guarantee a loan, under certain conditions, to Russia, the conditions of which we do not yet know?
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR:I am not responsible for everything that is in the newspapers.
§ VISCOUNT CECIL OF CHELWOOD:No, that is the statement made in the House of Commons.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR:I am not aware of it.
§ House adjourned at half-past ten o'clock.