§ LORD BANBURY OF SOUTHAM had given Notice to ask His Majesty's Government whether the Southwark Borough Council refused to accept the lowest tender for a printing contract on the ground that some of the employees of the firm tendering were not members of a trade union; whether they accepted a higher tender, thus causing a loss to the ratepayers of £293; whether the district auditor surcharged the Council in this amount, and whether the Government have cancelled the surcharge. The noble Lord said: My Lords, in putting this Question may I ask your Lordships to accord to me the indulgence which I believe you always give to a newcomer?
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT HALDANE)May I interrupt the noble Lord? We only had notice of this Question this morning it involves a complicated set of figures, and if it is convenient to the noble Lord to give us a little more time to get the particulars together perhaps he would put his Question down for Tuesday next.
§ LORD BANBURY OF SOUTHAMI have had a little conversation with the Lord President of the Council on this matter and he has informed me that he is quite prepared to answer my Question to-day. It was on that understanding that I rose to ask the Question.
§ LORD PARMOORMy Lords, the noble Lord is quite right, and I was going to listen with great interest to his first speech in this House after knowing him for sixty years. But having regard to what the Lord Chancellor has said, although I have spent many hours to-day trying to get the information that is required, perhaps it would be advisable if he put his Question off until Tuesday or some other convenient day.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORIf my noble and learned friend has all the material information necessary to answer the Question then by all means go on with it. As a general rule we in this House do not proceed with quite the same celerity as they do in another place. We like to have a couple of days' notice of a Question.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYMy I Lords. I think some further observations 182 must be made on this matter. My noble friend Lord Banbury of Southam took the course which is always adopted by any of your Lordships who desire to ask a Question. He communicated with the responsible Minister and asked him if he would be prepared to answer it to-day. The reply was that he would, and, with great respect to the Lord Chancellor, I do not see on what ground he can administer a rebuke to the noble Lord for taking a course which he was quite entitled to take. I understand what happened. There was no communication between the two noble and learned Lords who represent the Government in this House, and the moral to be drawn from the incident is not that my noble friend Lord Banbury of Southam should act quite differently on another occasion but that Ministers of the Crown should act differently and should enter into certain communications between themselves before they administer a rebuke to other members of your Lordships' House.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, it is convenient that Ministers should be able to give accurate information, and to give accurate information on a subject of this kind at a few hours' notice is impossible. If I had known that the noble Lord had communicated with the Lord President of the Council I should have been satisfied to leave it at that, and I, along with the rest of your Lordships, would have been instructed on a matter which I have had no opportunity of considering. It only shows the celerity with which a Labour Government proceeds when my noble and learned friend is prepared to deal with the matter at once.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPMy Lords, there is another lesson to be learnt, I think, besides the celerity with which a Labour Government is prepared to deal with these questions. It is lamentable to observe the difference of opinion between the Lord Chancellor and the Lord President of the Council. The Lord President is quite prepared to deal with the matter immediately, but the Lord Chancellor, who is anxious for accurate information, tells us that the Lord President of the Council is quite prepared to give us information to-day but that accurate information can only be expected on another occasion. In these circumstances I do not know 183 what course the noble Lord would wish to pursue, but I venture most respectfully to say how much I regret that on the occasion of his making his first speech in this House there should have been this slight contretemps. Whether he speaks to-day or on another occasion I can assure him that he will receive a most hearty welcome from every part of the House.
§ LORD PARMOORThere is no difference between the Lord Chancellor and myself. It is true that I have taken an enormous amount of trouble, practically a whole day, in order to bring myself up to the stage of being able to answer the noble Lord's Question, but in the circumstances I should like an opportunity of talking the matter over again.
§ LORD BANBURY OF SOUTHAMIn the circumstances I shall be quite prepared to postpone the Question until Tuesday. I do not know whether I am in order or not, but I should like to say, in reference to the remarks of the Lord Chancellor, that I had no intention of embarrassing the Lord President of the Council. Having known him for nearly sixty years I was quite certain that he was able to answer any Question that I might put down on the Paper at a day's notice, and I took the precaution also of seeing him beforehand. Had he said to me that he would like to have longer time to consider it, I should, of course, have been perfectly prepared to meet him. However, I will put down the Question for Tuesday next.
§ LORD PARMOORTuesday might not be a very convenient day because there are other matters already on the Order Paper.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPI have a Question down for Wednesday, but it is 184 very short and non-controversial, and perhaps that would be a more convenient day.
§ LORD BANBURY OF SOUTHAMIn that case I will put the Question down for Wednesday. I presume I shall have an opportunity of raising it at a later date.
§ LORD PARMOORTuesday is rather full at present, and Wednesday will give the noble Lord a fuller opportunity of raising the Question.