§ 2.43 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I have given Private Notice to the noble Earl the Leader of the House that I desire to ask a question on the Business for tomorrow. It is observed that there are two Motions on the Order Paper, one in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, and the other in the name of my noble friend Lord Silkin. In trying this morning to make our arrangements for to-morrow, we discovered that already seventeen speakers have their names down to speak on the first Motion, in regard to what seems to us almost a parochial matter. If there is any question of principle involved, it must already be settled by Statute. There are seventeen speakers to that Motion, which stands in front of a Motion of national importance, and for which certain Members of your Lordships' House have, I know, undertaken to be present, coming from long distances. It seems impossible, unless some readjustment can be made, for the second Motion to be taken. If that should be the course adopted, we 292 should like to settle it to-day, so that the people who are thinking of supporting the Motion on the Arts to-morrow may know in time, and will not be brought unnecessarily to the House.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS AND LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (THE EARL OF HOME)My Lords, before dealing with the question, may I say how glad we are to see the noble Lord, Lord Silkin, fully restored to health again. We are in a slight difficulty over to-morrow's Business, as nobody really anticipated there would be quite so many speakers on the first Motion. Whether they will all materialise or not, I do not know. I believe that they have said that they will be short. The choice is either to go ahead with both Motions—we could arrange for dinner to be served, if necessary—or to find another day. Of course, the programme is fairly congested for the next month. My feeling would have been that it would probably be better to hope that the first Motion could be disposed of fairly quickly, and that we could go ahead with the second Motion, if necessary arranging for dinner. But it is Lord Silkin's Motion, and it is for him to say. If he chooses to postpone his Motion we will try to find another day, but it will not be easy.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, it is not for me to answer. It is the noble Lord's personal Motion. But I must say that I do not trust a list of seventeen speakers to be necessarily brief. I am personally anxious that the Motion of national importance which is down in my noble friend's name should be dealt with when your Lordships have full time to devote to it. I know that there are a number of experts on the matter who want to speak, and I should advise my noble friend to postpone it. But it is for him to say. If the noble Earl the Leader of the House is prepared to help to find a day, I think that would be the better course.
§ LORD SILKINMy Lords, if I could have any kind of assurance that we could start even as late as 4.30 p.m. I should feel disposed to go ahead, but that seems to me quite out of the question. It looks as if it is much more likely to be 7.30 p.m. before we could begin, and that 293 would spoil what I consider to be a very important debate. In those circumstances, I wonder whether the noble Earl the Leader of the House would consider the possibility of taking the Motion on Thursday, July 11.
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, I cannot, of course, give the noble Lord any guarantee that the debate on the Motion of the noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, will finish early, and the noble Lord is not here at the moment. Perhaps, in the circumstances, we had better agree that Lord Silkin's Motion should be postponed to another day. That might mean sitting on a Monday. It might be better to settle it in that way, so that noble Lords need not come up to-morrow. But I am afraid that certain people will have come up from the country already.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, if I may be helpful, I would point out that there is no Motion of any sort on the Order Paper for July 11. I know that the noble Earl has certain Government Business to consider, but if we could tentatively fix a date about that time we could give adequate notice to all those interested.
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, I think we have a Committee stage for a Scottish Bill, as my noble friend Lord Strathclyde informs me. But perhaps that will not take long, and we might aim at July 11, if that is agreeable to the noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHThe Scottish Bill, which seems to be in itself a misnomer, was sent to us for July 6. We thought that that might still possibly be July 4.
THE EARL OF HOMEIn the circumstances, I think it would he better to agree to postpone to-morrow's Motion on the Arts and for another day to be arranged between us, through the usual channels. It is not strictly in order, but may I here say that perhaps noble Lords will understand that for the duration of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference I may not be in my place as often as I should be, but my noble friend the Deputy Leader, Lord Hailsham, or Lord Selkirk, will be here.