§ THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (LORD PARMOOR)My Lords, I should like to make a short statement with the permission of the House before we begin our business this afternoon. Your Lordships will recollect that you asked me to write a letter to the noble Earl, Lord Donoughmore, not only expressing our great regret that he had resigned owing to the condition of his health but intimating to him that it was the unanimous desire of this House that he should reconsider his resignation, and, if possible, after a prolonged holiday, take up again the work he has done so admirably in the past. I had a letter from Lord Donoughmore, of which I think the noble and learned Viscount, Lord Hailsham, and the noble Earl, Lord Beauchamp, both have copies, in which he expresses his deep gratitude to the House for the action they took last Tuesday in asking him to reconsider his decision. He said that he had delayed a little in sending his answer in order that he might give real and full consideration to the kind proposal which the House sent to him through me. I am sorry to say that the result of his consideration is that he is bound to ask us to consider his resignation as final.
Before coming to that determination, he said, he not only considered the matter with great care himself, but consulted the doctors in whose hands he was, and they told him that it really was impossible, owing to the condition of his health, to take up the duties of Lord Chairman again. Perhaps I may read the last passage in his letter. He writes:
My heart is very full of gratitude and I am deeply touched, but I am sure that my duty to the House and my duty to myself both point in the same direction in asking to be finally relieved.We shall, of course, have to accept that decision as final. I propose to-day to give Notice of a Resolution dealing with 879 the appointment of a successor to Lord Donoughmore when we meet to-morrow. I am told that it is right that Notice should be given of a suggestion of that character. I have had the advantage of consulting—in a very friendly manner, I hope I may say—with the Leaders of the two Parties opposite, and I think I may add that we are agreed and that the name we propose to bring forward is that of the Earl of Onslow.
§ VISCOUNT HAILSHAMMy Lords, as the noble and learned Lord the Leader of the House has said I have been furnished with a copy of the letter written by the Lord Chairman. In view of its terms I think it is obvious that there is nothing we can do but accept his resignation with very great regret. Lord Donoughmore, in his resignation, has shown the same sense of public duty that your Lordships have learned to expect from him on every occasion in connection with this House, and I am sure we part with him with extreme regret. We feel that we are losing one who has served this House with dignity and efficiency for nearly twenty years. He carries with him in his retirement the best wishes of everyone of us for a speedy return to the enjoyment of health and strength, and, I hope, to many years of distinguished public service. With regard to the Motion which the noble and learned Leader of the House has set down for to-morrow, I have only to say that he and I and the noble Earl, Lord Beauchamp, have been in consultation about the matter and have taken such steps as we were able, and I hope the proposal which he is making to-morrow will be one which will commend itself to this House.
§ EARL BEAUCHAMPMy Lords, it is not necessary for me to do more than re-echo what has been said by the two noble Lords who have spoken. It is a commonplace among some of us in this House that when the two Front Benches are agreed, the rights of Back Benchers are being infringed and when the three Benches are agreed it is perfectly certain that something wrong is being done. On this occasion, while we are unanimous in regretting Lord Donoughmore's resignation, I hope that to-morrow we shall be unanimous in welcoming his successor.