Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 29 Gorffennaf 1926.
I am coming to that point, in fact. I had just come to it, when you, Mr. Speaker, drew attention that my preface was rather too long in leading to the point I wished to raise. The point to which I desire to come without further illustration is that debate is permissible with reference to the reserved subjects and shortcomings for which Ministers of the Crown here are responsible to this House on such grievances are open to criticism from the point of view that they, and they alone, can assume the consequences of deciding what questions are reserved and what questions are not reserved. Ministers are subject to censure in this House if they decide wrongly. Of these reserved subjects—and I shall be careful not to bring before this House any subject which is not reserved—there is one which is not only a reserved subject but which has been admitted to be such, so much so that it has been brought before this House several times without exception being taken to it, and has also been brought before the Law Officers of the Crown. I refer to the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies with regard to the safeguarding of constitutional rights, and to the working of the Constitution in Malta. This applies to a Dominion, in regard to those functions which are specifically reserved in Constitution Acts depending an the authority of the Crown acting independently of a local Legislature. The question to which I desire to refer as having often been before this House is the fact that the Constitution of Malta cannot be altered except by a two-thirds majority, and if it is altered—