I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether, in view of the strain that will be imposed upon members by the prolongation of the sitting of the House through the autumn, he will consider the desirability of reducing the sitting on Wednesdays to a half-day, say from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Personally I should be glad to see some arrangement come to by which in the autumn sittings, when the Committee work upstairs is less exacting, the House might avoid sitting on the evening of Wednesdays. But in that case I think the day sitting would have to begin rather earlier than my hon. friend suggests. No change of the kind can be proposed unless it is clear that it will moot with general assent and be agreed to without discussion.