land included in this estate, immediate seeing the dissatisfaction which exists in steps will be taken to secure its acquisi- Ireland with regard to the payment of tion for distribution. fees for the teaching of Irish in national schools, steps will be immediately taken by the Irish Government to secure that proper facilities and remuneration be given for the teaching of the national language in the primary schools of our country.

MR. BIRRELL: The Estates Commissioners inform me that the fact is as stated in the first part of the Question. On the 7th instant the Commissioners made an order for the preliminary inspection, and this will be carried out as soon as possible, having regard to the prior claims of other estates to be dealt with.

Lauder Estate, King's County. MR. REDDY (King's County, Birr): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Estates Commissioners have taken over the grass farm lately in the possession of a man named Cruise on the Lauder estate, in Clonfairlough, near Ferbane, King's County, it being held under the eleven months system; and, as Cruise has left the neighbourhood, what is the cause of the delay in dividing this land, as it is in the middle of a congested district.

MR. BIRRELL: The Estates Commissioners have made an offer to the Land Judge for the purchase of this estate, including land occupied by Mr. Cruise, with which the Commissioners propose to enlarge small holdings. Should the offer be accepted, the Commissioners will prepare a scheme for the re-arrangement and enlargement of the holdings.

Major Urquhart's King's County Estate. MR. REDDY: I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the farm of the late Major | Urquhart, Cloghan, King's County, consisting of over 700 acres, has been offered for sale to the Estates Commissioners; and, if so, will he see that immediate steps are taken to acquire the same, in view of the fact that there are a large number of uneconomic holdings in the locality requiring enlargement.

MR. BIRRELL: The Estates Commissioners are in communication with the owner's solicitors with a view to the purchase of the property in question.

Irish Language in Irish Schools.
MR. THOMAS O'DONNELL (Kerry,
W.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to
the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether,

VOL. CLXX. [FOURTH SERIES.]

of

MR. BIRRELL: I wish to make the position of the Irish Government quite clear on the subject of fees for teaching Irish. Since July, 1906, fees for Irish as an extra subject in national schools have been abolished. Irish is now an optional subject which can, with the consent of the managers, be taught in every national school, either outside or during school hours. Extern teachers may be employed if the teachers of the school are not competent to teach the subject. According to the new scale of fees which came into force on 1st July, 1900, 1s. per scholar is paid for Irish in the lower standards, and 2s. 6d. in the higher standards. The Commissioners National Education are of opinion that Irish can be best taught by the ordinary teachers of a school; and in order to provide a sufficient number of competent teachers, they award thirty prizes yearly in the training colleges for the encouragement of Irish. In these colleges, Irish is an optional subject, so far as the National Board is concerned, but it is open to the managers of the colleges to make it compulsory, if they so desire. The supply of national school teachers competent to teach Irish is at present very defective, so much so that the Commissioners are unable, in many instances, to enforce the new rule requiring teachers appointed to schools in Irish-speaking districts to have a knowledge of Irish. This seems to point to the necessity of the managers of training colleges making the learning of Irish compulsory in those institutions. The Commissioners of National Education, being of the opinion that the scale of fees which I have just mentioned was insufficient for the remuneration of extern teachers, made proposals for an increase in the scale in connection with the Estimates for 1906-7, and these proposals were supported by the Irish Government. The Treasury, however, felt unable to sanction these proposals, as my hon. friend the Secretary to that Department has already informed the hon. Member.

3 F

Opening of Parliament.

MR. BOTTOMLEY (Hackney, S.): I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether,

in view of the lack of accommodation in another place for Members of this House and to the great extension made in recent years in the principles of popular government, he will endeavour to arrange that

Parliament His Majesty's most gracious Speech shall be read in this House, instead of, as at present, in that other place.

MR. BIRRELL: The sums allocated to the various urban districts are based, not upon the number of pupils in attend-upon future occasions of the opening of ance, but upon a scheme in which the chief factor is population. The whole of the Department's endowment for technical education has been allocated, and it would not be possible to increase the grant for one centre without reducing the grants for other centres. The Depart. ment do not consider it desirable to allocate funds in proportion to the pupils, inasmuch as that there are wide differences in the character and cost of the instruction in different districts.

Banbridge Post Office.

MR. LIDDELL: I beg to ask the Postmaster-General if he has received a resolution from the Banbridge Urban Council requesting new or additional accommodation for the public to be provided for the postal necessities of the town; and what action he proposes to take in the matter.

THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Poplar) I have received a communication on this subject from the Urban District Council. The question of improving the present post office accommodation at Banbridge is receiving careful consideration, and the council's views on the subject will not be overlooked.

SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN: No, Sir, I do not feel disposed to propose an alteration in the present arrangement.

MR. BYLES (Salford, N.): Could not a neutral place be used for the ceremony— say Westminster Hall?

[No Answer was returned.]

Hamburg Dock Strike.

MR. THORNE (West Ham, S.): On behalf of the hon. Member for North-east Manchester, I beg to ask the Prime Minister, in view of the support given last session to the Bill which proposed to prevent British employers importing foreign workmen to fill men's places during a dispute, whether he can take any action to prevent the exportation of the 2,000 men from Liverpool and other places who are being shipped to Hamburg to labour for foreign employers in place of the men who are stopped through a dispute there, or propose some immediate means whereby British workmen now unemployed may be engaged at home.

SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN: No, Sir, I cannot see how anything can be done in this matter. There are no powers whatever in existence for controlling the departure of workmen from this country to take up work elsewhere, whether in connection with a strike or otherwise.

MR. HAVELOCK WILSON (Middlesbrough): Was it by order of the Home Secretary that men engaged in these circumstances were escorted by Metropolitan police to the docks?

*MR. SPEAKER: Notice should be given of that Question.

Afforestation in Scotland.

MR. ALDEN (Middlesex, Tottenham): I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether

there has been under consideration a

to his being a Justice of the Peace. It has been constantly the practice of men who conscientiously objected to pay rates for the teaching of what they believed to be pernicious doctrine to refuse payment and allow the law to take its course. Such men do not disentitle themselves to the respect of others, and are not disqualified for serving His Majesty.

*MR. LIEF JONES (Westmoreland, Appleby): Was not John Hampden a Justice of the Peace?

[No Answer was returned.]

Standing Committees.

MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, if, in view of the proposal of the Government to commit all Bills automatically to Grand Committees, except those large scheme for re-afforesting 30,000 specially withheld, he will make arrangeacres in Scotland; whether the House ments for official reports to be taken of could be supplied with particulars of all proceedings before Standing Com that scheme; and, if so, whether, in mittees. the near future, he can see any prospect of carrying it into execution.

SIR. H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN: I am informed that a scheme of reafforestation is under the consideration of the Commissioners of woods and forests. The scheme has not yet reached the stage in which it would be desirable for me to enter into details, but I shall be happy to give my hon. friend further information on the subject if matters are, as I hope they may be, satisfactorily completed.

Magistrates and Passive Resistance. MR. HUNT (Shropshire, Ludlow): I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether

in view of the fact that three of the

magistrates lately appointed in Northamptonshire were passive resisters, he can take any steps to secure that in future appointments men who have refused to be bound by the law shall not be chosen to enforce it.

SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN : I am not aware whether it is the case

that three of the magistrates lately appointed in Northamptonshire were passive resisters, but the fact of a man's being a passive resister when the passive resistance is unaccompanied by brawling or unseemly conduct is not an objection

SIR H. CAMPBELL BANNERMAN : My hon. friend has asked me to reply to this question. I see no necessity myself for altering the present arrangement for reporting the proceedings of Standing Committees, but of course it will be open for the House to discuss the matter when the new procedure proposals are before it.

PERSONAL STATEMENT.

MR. H. H. MARKS (Kent, Thanet): Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to make a perNovember last, † certain charges against sonal explanation. On the 26th of me in reference to the conduct of my newspaper were brought before the House by means of a letter addressed to Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker ruled that no question of breach of privilege arose on them, but, by the indulgence of the House, I was permitted to make a statement. I informed the House that the charges had been made in my constituthe majority of the electors had shown ency during the past three years, that their opinion of them by twice returning by a majority of over 4,000 votes, and in me to Parliament, on the last occasion

† see (4) Debates, clxv., 1254-8.

"Dear Mr. MARKS,

'Willoughby Lodge,

'Margate,

11th December, 1906.

:

the proportion of six to one against a To this I received the following reply
candidate selected and supported against
me on the ground of these very charges
by the persons who had again given
them publicity. I stated that, the matter
having been brought directly before the
House, it was my intention to take such
line of action as should, after consulta-
tion with my friends, appear to them
and to me to be the most consistent with
my own honour and the honour of the
House. The statement is now being made
and widely circulated that, in violation
of my pledge, I have allowed the mat-
ter to drop and have taken no action
upon it. This, Sir, is not the fact. The
fact is that on the day after the question
was raised in the House, namely on the
27th of November, I put myself in com-
munication with the local representatives
of the Party to which I owe my two elec-
tions to Parliament as the Member for
Thanet, and on 30th November I wrote a
letter in the following terms-

"The Central Council yesterday considered your letter to me of the 27th ult. and unanimously adopted the resolutions which I enclose. The council fully approved of your statement in the House of Commons and of your action in placing yourself unreservedly in their hands.

"6, Cavendish Square, W.
30th November, 1906.

"Colonel Rowland Hill, J.P.
(President of the Isle of Thanet Conservative
and Constitutional Association),

Willoughby Lodge, Margate.

"Dear Colonel Hill,

"We considered first the advisability of your taking an action for libel. We were against this; all the matters in question, with one exception, were before the electors twice in 1904, once in 1906.

"In 1904 we had the Court of Enquiry, in 1904 we had the election, and in 1906 we had the election, and on each occasion you came through the ordeal triumphantly. To ask you now to take action would be to stultify ourselves and to cause the electors of Thanet to be objects of ridicule.

"With regard to your seeking re-election the above arguments hold good; besides, to put you to the expense of an election for the sake of sixteen nonentities would be too absurd.

"We then proceeded to investigate the new
charge, and after a prolonged inquiry thoroughly
and unanimously satisfied ourselves that it was
utterly false. At the commencement of the
proceedings, I warned the representatives
present that they were not there as your friends
or partisans, but that they would be answer-
able to their own associations and to the
electors of Thanet at large for any decision they
Personally it affords me much
came to.
pleasure in forwarding to you the resolutions
as passed. I cordially agree with the decision
arrived at.

"Believe me, Yours sincerely,
'(Signed) R. HILL.
"President Central Council

"On the 27th instant I sent you, in your personal capacity, a reprint of an incident which arose in the House of Commons on the previous day, and intimated my early intention of writing to you officially on the subject. I feel that, having regard to the place where, and the circumstances under which, this last attack has been made, the right course for me to take is to place myself in your hands. The only new element in the situation is furnished by the allusions which have been made to my The resolutions are as follows:— newspaper, the Financial News, in the case of Rex v. Jonas. I enclose you all the papers in this matter, with verbatin extracts from the standard reference books. The originals are at your disposal if you desire to see them.

66

If, in the opinion of the Central Council, or in your opinion, as a result of these or any other circumstances, I have in any degree forfeited the confidence which the constituency has twice, with increasing emphasis, reposed in me, I shall take whatever course you and the Central Council desire. I place myself unreservedly in your hands, and submit myself to your judgment as to my attitudein respect of which I have no desire greater than this, that it may always command in the future, as I am proud to believe it has commanded in the past, the approval, the conti dence, and the goodwill of my friends and neighbours of the Isle of Thanet.

"Yours faithfully,
"(Signed) H. H. MARKS.”

Mr. H. H. Marks.

Thanet Division."

"The Central Council of the Isle of Thanet Conservative and Constitutional Associations (which has represented the Conservative Party in the Division ever since it has been a constituency) having before it the letter from the member for the constituency, in which he placed himself unreservedly in its hands as to the course he should take with reference to the communication addressed by sixteen electors to the Speaker of the House of Commons, has given the matter and all the issues raised by it the most careful consideration, and finds :

"(a) That the allegations made are, with one exception, those which were before the electors in 1904 and 1906.

"(b) That complete investigation has proved the falsity of this new charge.

"The Council resolves :

"(1) That the question of Mr. Marks' fitness as a Member of the House of

I had

Commons, raised in the letter to the have been doing my duty if
Speaker, was purely one for the majority not asked your opinion, Sir, and I
of the constituency, who twice returned
him as their representative.
hope that the Government or those
responsible, will see that in future
the Standing Orders are complied with.
What business is to be taken if the
Motion be carried?

"(2) That this Council is of opinion that Mr. Marks has done nothing since his election to forfeit the confidence of the constituency; that this Council desires to place on record its unabated confidence in him, its high appreciation of his public services, and its entire satisfaction with him as the representative of the Division

in Parliament.

"(3) That copies of these Resolutions be sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons, to Mr. Marks and the Press." These Resolutions were subsequently submitted to and unanimously approved by the six local Conservative Associations in the constituency, and communicated to Mr. Speaker and the Press. They accurately represent the considered opinions of those who sent me here. I thank the House for the indulgence it has extended to me under circumstances rendered the more difficult by reason of the fact that one of the matters involved, upon which particular stress is laid, is even now sub judice.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR (City of London) pointed out that the Motion put down by the Prime Minister for the suspension of the eleven o'clock rule was not in accordance with the Standing Order, and asked if it might not therefore be debated.

*MR. SPEAKER said the Motion departed from the form prescribed in the Standing Order in respect only of one word. He assumed that the Prime Minister had intended to put the Motion in the form laid down in the Standing Order. Perhaps the Motion had better be put in that form.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR: I suppose, Sir, you have considered whether it is in the power of the Chair to put in a different form a Motion of which notice has been given?

*MR. SPEAKER: I think that would be raising too highly technical a point. It is clear what was intended.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR: I am no lover of techical points. I have been bitten by them too often. But I should not