§ LORD ARNOLDMy Lords, I desire to ask the noble Marquess, the Leader of the House, if he has any further statement to make with regard to the Recess?
§ THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY)My Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lord. Your Lordships may remember that when I last had the honour of speaking concerning the arrangement of business I suggested that your Lordships might adjourn to-morrow until the following Thursday week. That would be a complete fortnight. But certain modifications have been suggested, which I desire to submit to your Lordships. In the first place, it appears that it will be difficult for us to adjourn to-morrow night, because we shall not have completed all the stages of the non-controversial Bills which have to be agreed to before the Recess, and accordingly it is thought better that the Royal Commission should take place on Thursday, instead of Wednesday, and that the adjournment for the holidays should take place after the Royal Commission. The Thursday sitting will, of course, so far as the majority of your Lordships are concerned, be treated, if I may say so, as rather a formal matter. A formal stage of one or two Bills may probably be put through, but all that is really necessary is that there should be a House in order that the business may be wound up for the Royal Commission before the holidays. It is hoped that the House will sit at three o'clock. It would be difficult to take the Royal Commission earlier than that, and it may have to be postponed a little later in order to suit the House of Commons. These remarks concern the beginning of the holidays.
519 So far as the end of the holidays is concerned, we had designed to meet again on Thursday, June 11, but it has been represented to me that no business is set down for Thursday, June 11, and that there would be only one Parliamentary day in that week, so that it might be found rather inconvenient for your Lordships and the officers of the House if we were to assemble for one single day upon which no business is set down. Consequently, it seems not unreasonable that the holidays should be prolonged until the next Parliamentary day—namely, the following Tuesday, June 16, and accordingly, with your Lordships' permission, we should propose that the adjournment, should take place from Thursday next until Tuesday, June 16.
Before I sit down, there is another matter that I have to mention to your Lordships, having reference to the business before us to-day. I refer to the Poor Law Emergency Provisions Continuance (Scotland) Bill, which stands for Second Reading to-day. The Bill is urgent and, I believe, wholly uncontroversial. I put it to several noble, Lords of great influence in the House that there would seem to be no objection to taking that Bill through all its stages on successive days—there is no question of suspending the Standing Orders—though this is not the practice of the House in the case of controversial Bills. If this were agreed to, we should take the Second Reading to-day, the Committee stage to-morrow and Third Reading on Thursday. The same considerations apply to the Air Ministry (Croydon Aerodrome Extension) Bill, which is at present with the Examiners, but will be down for Committee to-morrow and for Third Reading on Thursday, before the Royal Commission sits. I hope that those arrangements of business will be convenient to your Lordships.
§ LORD ARNOLDMy Lords, so far as we on this Bench are concerned, the statement which the noble Marquess has made concerning the Recess is quite agreeable to us. I regret very much that at one moment in his speech I was engaged in a necessary conversation, but I rather gathered that he said that the Scottish Bill down for to-day was non-controversial.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI did say so.
§ LORD ARNOLDI am afraid we cannot agree to that, but at the same time, having regard to circumstances into which I will not at this moment enter, we do not propose to offer any opposition. I cannot agree, however, that the Bill is non-controversial. Might I further ask the noble Marquess whether he can say anything with regard to the course of business after the Recess? I refer particularly to Mondays. I am not now, of course, referring to the Monday of the week in which we re-assemble, but, after that week, would it be his intention that the House should sit on Mondays for the remainder of the Session?
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI am obliged again to the noble Lord. Yes, that was the intention of the Government. We propose that after Whitsuntide, excepting of course the Monday of the week in which we re-assemble, we should sit every Monday.