Mr Stanley Baldwin: In accordance with the undertaking which I gave to my hon. and gallant Friend on 7th April, I have made careful inquiries into the question whether the salaries of Members of Parliament should be increased. The existing figure of £400 was fixed in 1911. It is, I think, obvious that, if £400 was adequate in the circumstances then existing, it cannot be so regarded in the very different...
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I am not in a position to-day to add anything to the answer I have given, but perhaps, if a question were put down at an early date, it would receive attention.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: It might save time ii I repeat that I am unable to add anything to-day to my answer.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I am not certain that it would be an act of propriety on my part to consider anything that this House might do next week.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: On Monday we shall take the Second Reading of the Finance Bill and the Committee stage of the Civil List Bill. Tuesday: Continuation of the Debate on the Second Reading of the Finance Bill, which we propose to conclude at 7.3o, and afterwards the Third Reading of the Civil List Bill. Wednesday: Supply, Committee (8th allotted day). The Vote to be considered will be announced later....
Mr Stanley Baldwin: As my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health recently stated, the Registrar-General is continuing and extending his investigations and researches into this matter. Consultation is also proceeding so as to secure the co-operation of the committee recently formed under the chairmanship of Professor Carr-Saunders. I think at the present stage this is the most useful course to adopt.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: In view of the advanced stage which the Private Member's Bill has reached, and of the special circumstances mentioned in my hon. Friend's question, the Government, while continuing to regard the Measure as a Private Member's Bill, hope to afford an early opportunity, after the Whitsuntide Recess, for the consideration of its remaining stages in this House.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: As my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade has explained to the House, informal and exploratory discussions have for some time been proceeding with the United States Government with a view to ascertaining whether a basis exists for trade negotiations between the United Kingdom and the United States of America. These discussions are still proceeding, but I cannot say how long...
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I would rather leave my answer as it is.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: Yes, Sir, the White Paper is now available in the Vote Office.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: The question of the existing relation between the salaries attached to the two posts referred to by my hon. Friend does not seem to me to arise in connection with the Ministers' Salaries Bill. The question is one for consideration in the first instance by the Commissioners for regulating the Offices of the House of Commons.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I should have notice of it.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: The terms of my hon. Friend's question may give rise to some misunderstanding which I must correct. The Minister of Health, in the course of the Debate last Wednesday, said that the Government would take into consideration the views expressed on this subject during the discussion, and that, of course, will be done.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: On Monday, 24th May, Committee stage of the Civil List Resolutions and of the Statutory Salaries Bill. Tuesday, 25th May—Supply, Committee (6th Allotted day), Board of Trade Vote, Report stage of the Civil List Resolutions. Wednesday, 26th May—Supply, Committee (7th Allotted day), Colonial Office Vote. The business for Thursday, 27th May, and Friday, 28th May, will be announced when...
Mr Stanley Baldwin: There is plenty of time to do that.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I do not mind confessing that, when I was first asked to find time for this discussion, I was apprehensive. I have seen so many occasions, not only in industrial affairs, where a Debate during a period of negotiation can do, and sometimes has done, irreparable harm; but I welcome the temper in which the right hon. Gentleman has spoken. He naturally spoke, on occasion, strongly, because he...
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I regret that I am not yet in a position to make any statement on this subject. Perhaps hon. Members will be good enough to repeat their questions on Thursday next.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: Perhaps the hon. Member had better await my reply.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I assure my hon. Friend that all relevant considerations will be borne in mind.
Mr Stanley Baldwin: I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer of my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade to-day to the hon. Member for the Park Division of Sheffield (Mr. Lathan) and to that which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave on 13th April in reply to supplementary questions.
