§ 2.40 p.m.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS (THE EARL OF HOME)My Lords, your Lordships will be sorry to hear that my noble friend Lord Drogheda has influenza, which will compel him to postpone his Motion on compensation for victims of crimes of violence, which was circulated for debate to-morrow, Wednesday. I think it would be convenient to noble Lords opposite if the Business were rearranged. We have had conversations through the usual channels, and the proposal is that the debate on the Address should now be continued and concluded to-morrow, instead of on Thursday; and on Thursday, when the House meets, we propose to take Lord Burden's Motion on the recommendations of the Whitley Council. I am always reluctant to disturb Business because I know how inconvenient it is to noble Lords to have this done; but owing to circumstances which we could not foresee, I think that this programme might suit the convenience of the whole House.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Leader for his statement. We are in agreement with the proposal to transfer the debate from Thursday to to-morrow, to occupy the vacant place, and we greatly regret the reason. It is always difficult for noble Members of this House to have sudden changes of programme from day to day. I shall be here, but I have a number of appointments in the House that I certainly should not have made if Business had been otherwise than it is to-morrow. The same applies in regard to others of my 198 colleagues. However, having gone into the matter fully, we think that perhaps the course suggested may be the best in all the circumstances. We thoroughly agree with the noble Earl, however, that, so far as possible, these sudden changes of days for Business already fixed and circulated to Members should not occur.