On Thursday, Sir William Harcourt, who moved a motion appropriating
the whole of the time of the House for Govern- ment business, declared that his action was founded "upon no complaints against any section of the House in the past nor upon any anticipations of unfair dealing with public business in the future—a remark in strong contrast with the parrot-cry of Obstruction raised by the Gladstonian press. Mr. Balfour, in a very moderate speech, suggested that, instead of demanding the whole time of the House for all purposes, the Government should only ask for it for the Finance Bill and Supply. The Finance Bill was the only measure of which t '3ey would definitely say that it was not going to be abandoned, and it was therefore not unreasonable to limit the motion as he proposed. Sir William Harcourt, however, refused to accept any compromise of the kind. After Mr. Redmond had insinuated that the Government's intentions in regard to the Evicted Tenants Bill were probably dishonourable, and other Members had tried to draw the leader of the House as to the fate of their pet measures, Mr. Goschen moved an amendment formally limiting the Ministerial proposal to financial business.
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