§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DOMINION AFFAIRS (VISCOUNT ADDISON)My Lords, may I intervene for a moment to say that an important statement has to be made to your Lordships this afternoon? It has been arranged that it should be made simultaneously in both Houses of Parliament. For this purpose I would crave your Lordships' permission to interrupt our proceedings this afternoon at 3.15, or as near as may be after that time, in order to give an opportunity for making this statement. After my statement my noble and learned friend on the Woolsack will also take the opportunity of making a short statement with regard to distressed persons from the Continent.
LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, I wonder whether my noble friend will permit me to make a very mild protest at this continued procedure of having to set our pace with that of another place. It may have been justified during the war and the time of the Coalition, but I have been long enough in your Lordships' House to remember the time when we made our own programme, and statements of this sort were made by His Majesty's Ministers when the House met. I do not want to question what is now suggested, but I think that suitable representations might be made through the usual channels to see whether we cannot return to the old pre-war practice.