BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE. (Hansard, 23 July 1924)

§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (LORD PARMOOR)
My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name, so that the Unemployment Insurance (No. 2) Bill may receive its Second Reading to-morrow after the debate on the Motion of Viscount Grey of Fallodon on the subject of armaments. This is the Motion to which reference was made by the Leader of the Opposition last night. Originally we put down the Unemployment Insurance (No. 2) Bill for Friday. It was indicated to me that that would not be convenient to the noble Viscount, Lord Cave, and, of course, we desired to consult his convenience in every way. We therefore propose, if the House will accept the Motion that I am proposing, to take it to-morrow instead. That will have the further advantage that there will be additional time for the drawing up of Amendments between the Second Reading and the Committee stages.
The Motion of the noble Viscount, Lord Grey of Fallodon, is an important one dealing with the letter which has been written on behalf of the Government in connection with what is called the proposed draft Treaty of Mutual 904 Assistance. I am sure that the House will agree that Lord Grey's Motion should not be in any way interfered with. In order to make certain of that I am going to propose that we meet at a quarter past three o'clock to-morrow. I have already spoken to the noble Viscount on the subject, and I do not think there will be any objection to that. If we meet at 3.15 p.m. I am sure that that will give us time for all the important business that we shall have to transact. I shall, therefore propose at the adjournment to-night that we meet at a quarter past three tomorrow afternoon. When the suggestion was mentioned yesterday no indication was given that the hour would be an inconvenient one.

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
My Lords, so far as I represent noble Lords on this side of the House I wish to thank the Lord President for his kindness in falling in with the wishes of the noble Marquess, Lord Curzon, who regrets very much that he cannot be here this afternoon. I agree with the Lord President that it would be a thousand pities if there was any interference with the Motion of Viscount Grey of Fallodon and it would, I think, have been very unfortunate if any modification of the programme of business had interfered with that Motion. As for the time of meeting to-morrow that is really for Lord Grey to say. But that his Motion should not be interfered with is, I think, in the interests of the House. As regards the other Bill it is of great importance that it should be advanced from Friday to Thursday. The noble Viscount, Lord Cave, is an authority on this subject and your Lordships would have been very sorry if we had lost the advantage of hearing him on the Second Reading. The change, however, is not only made for his convenience but, as the Lord President has said, it will afford more 905 time between the Second Reading and the Committee stage for the convenience of noble Lords who wish to amend the Bill. It is an exceptional course to take, although it is not unprecedented. For these reasons, I think the Government are well advised to adopt this arrangement.

§ VISCOUNT GREY OF FALLODON
My Lords, so far as I am concerned I should like to express my acknowledgments to the Lord President of the Council and also to the noble Marquess for what they have said with regard to preserving precedence for the Motion which I have placed on the Paper. I am quite ready to bring on that Motion at whatever hour is most convenient to your Lordships. If 3.15 p.m. is the hour which is most convenient it is perfectly convenient to me.

§ EARL BEAUCHAMP
My Lords, I wonder whether the Lord President can give us some information for which we should be very grateful with regard to two important Bills which are coming up here soon—the Finance Bill and the Old Age Pensions Bill. If the noble and learned Lord finds it inconvenient to tell us now, perhaps he would be good enough to tell us a little later.

§ LORD PARMOOR
I think the Finance Bill will be here to-morrow, and two other important Bills, which I mentioned the other day, will be here on Monday. We shall then have to see how we can best deal with them.