Sir Edward Grey made a statement in the Commons on
Monday with regard to the answering of questions .dealing with foreign affairs. He admitted that it required some adjustment and indulgence on the part of the House to enable him to combine with attendance in the House the work of the Foreign Office. But he had never felt that it was in the interests of the House itself to assent to the doctrine that it was impossible for the Foreign Minister to be a Member of the House of Commons. Under the arrangement now pro- posed he undertook always to be in the House when any foreign question was being discussed. As regards questions, be asked the House to accept an arrangement by which he should be present on two days in the week—Tuesday and Thurs- day—while on Monday and Wednesday questions would be answered by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Govern- ment Board (Mr. Runciman). He was quite willing to revert to the original practice—largely modified by the late Govern- ment—of not restricting supplementary questions so far as he himself was concerned ; but he begged the House to bear in mind that a certain risk attached to supplementary answers, which were received abroad without full understanding of the circumstances in which they were given, bat were " scrutinised as considered statements with a deliberate intention behind them." Sir Edward Grey's statement was favourably received, and he is to be congratulated on the choice of his understudy, for Mr. Runciman has already commended himself to both sides of the House by his ability and moderation.
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