– in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 24 Mawrth 1947.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek your guidance as to the rules governing the acceptance by the Clerks at the Table of names of hon. Members in support of Motions standing on the Order Paper, and particularly to ask whether it is not most desirable that a Member's name should be accepted by the Clerks only if it is handed in by the Member in person, or if his signature in support of the Motion is produced by another hon. Member.
In reply to the hon. Member's question, I understand he is complaining that his name appeared without his authority last Thursday to the Amendment in the name of the hon. Member for Aston (Mr. Wyatt) to the Government's Motion on Defence. The Rules relating to Members handing or sending their names to be added to Motions or Amendments, are identical with those for sending or handing in any notice, that is that, if sent, a notice must bear the Member's autographed signature; if handed in by the Member concerned or by another Member duly authorised by him, a notice need not bear an autographed signature, nor do I think that the Clerks at the Table should be instructed to query a Member's authority to hand in a notice for another Member, which in my view would be disparaging to Members of this House who must be assumed to be acting honourably and with full responsibility. In this case examination of the manuscript shows that the hon. Member's name was written in manuscript, in a way which might appear to be an autographed signature.
I should like to make it perfectly clear that there was no disparagement of the hon. Member for Aston (Mr. Wyatt). I fully appreciate that the situation arose from a genuine mistake which at any rate was partly my own fault. I should like to make that perfectly clear.
I think between us the matter is now perfectly clear.