§ THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY)My Lords, when I spoke yesterday on the subject of business with a caution which I hope has become habitual with me, I did not speak with absolute certainty as to what was in store for us. I am sorry to say that since I spoke information has reached me that the Mining Industry Bill will not be finished in another place until Tuesday, instead of Monday, the very last day on which I thought it was reasonable to expect it would be finished. Since it cannot reach us till Tuesday it is evidently impossible that we should take the Second Reading on Tuesday, which had been the design to which your Lordships assented. I have taken all the steps in my power to consult influential Peers in different quarters of the House and I find that it would be convenient if the Second Reading is put off until Thursday of next week and I propose that that course should be adopted.
The Bill will be received on Tuesday and if we are still sitting we can read it a first time then, but there will be no difficulty in reading it a first time on Wednesday if we are not sitting when it reaches us on Tuesday. Then, on Thursday, we will take the Second Reading. That will make the interval between the Second Reading and the Committee stage very short. I hope your Lordships will believe me when I say that I wholly 111 disapprove of these short intervals, but I find it is convenient to your Lordships that the arrangement which I foreshadowed so far as the later stages of the Bill are concerned should be adhered to. Therefore, unless I hear some strong expression to the contrary, I propose that the Committee stage should be taken on Monday, August 2, as arranged previously, and that the remaining stages of the Bill should be finished in the course of the early part of that week so that the adjournment can take place at the end of the week, according to the intention of the Government.
§ VISCOUNT HALDANEMy Lords, those who sit with me on this Bench will offer no opposition to that course because, obviously, the noble Marquess cannot control the wind and the tides in this encounter.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYOr the House of Commons.
§ VISCOUNT HALDANEThe only thing we should ask for is that steps should be taken so that the Bill may be circulated on Wednesday morning. There is sometimes a little delay in its coming from the office and we should be glad if it could be in print so that it might be circulated to the members of this House on Wednesday morning.