asked the Under-Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health whether he will submit to the House the correspondence that has passed between the Secretary for Scotland, the Board of Agriculture, and the representatives of the landless men regarding the various cases throughout the Western Isles in which the landless men are now being threatened with imprisonment for cultivating bits of land for which they are willing to pay fair rents?

My Noble Friend is not prepared to take the course suggested.

Why?

It is open to anyone to publish this correspondence, but my Noble Friend does not feel that it ought to be published at the public expense.