It is proposed to take items 1, 3 and 6 in that order, items 4, 5 and 7 to be taken from seven to eight o'clock to-night.
Order of Business.
If these items are not concluded by eight o'clock, is it proposed to extend the time for their discussion?
If there is a likelihood of a Bill being finished at ten minutes past 8 p.m., I understand that the ten minutes might be allowed to enable that to be done.
Is there any difficulty about dealing with items 4, 5 and 7 from seven o'clock onwards and then resuming on No. 3?
The idea is to give an hour to these three items and, if they are not concluded within the hour, to go back to item 3.
There is no use in hiding people's hands. The Defence Conference has been attempting to meet for a considerable time and has been unable to do so owing to the arrangement of business. Either this House regards the Defence Conference as a body of consequence whose business should be facilitated or it does not. The arrangement of business makes it impossible for certain members of the Defence Conference to attend meetings of that body. Either you want the Defence Conference to meet to do the business delegated to it or you do not. When you put the Trade Union Bill down every day, the members of the Labour Party cannot attend the Defence Conference. When you do that, you ought to do it with your eyes open. Urgent representations were made to the Government by us to that effect during the past two days.
I did not hear anything about them.
We cannot help that. We made urgent representations that the business of the House should be moderately arranged to enable the Defence Conference to carry on its business. Meetings of the Defence Conference have been twice postponed. A meeting has been summoned for four o'clock to-day, and if you are going to have this Bill debated from now onwards, the business of that conference cannot be properly transacted. There is no reason on earth why items 1, 4 and 5 should not be taken first, item 3 coming on afterwards, in which event the business of the conference could be done. If the Minister for Local Government would take items 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7 everybody's business could be done.
The Government's business could be done if this obstructive attitude were abandoned.
I beg of the Minister not to raise that issue. The Defence Conference has got nothing to do with the procedure of this House. We have not asked the House to arrange its business to suit our convenience on any occasion, nor do we do so even now. The Defence Conference has postponed its meetings to meet the convenience of the Government and of the House. Either it is desired to get the business of the conference done or it is not. You will effectively prevent it from doing its work if you arrange business so that the members cannot assemble.
The introduction of this Bill prevented that.
Time could be found to-day for it.
Why not have the meeting of the Defence Conference to-morrow?
This is the first I heard regarding the convenience of the Defence Conference. The business has been arranged in the order I indicated, and officials have been notified to attend. I am afraid that it would upset business a great deal if we were to alter the order now.