PRIVATE BILLS. (Hansard, 2 August 1860)

§ COLONEL WILSON PATTEN

said, that it was usual about this period of the Session to move the appointment of a Committee to consider any alterations which might be required in the Standing Orders of the House. This year, however, so few Amendments were needed, and those so entirely of a verbal character, that he had thought it better to submit the new Orders at once to the House, rather than give hon. Members the trouble of sitting in Committee upstairs, and making a formal Report upon the subject. The Standing 481 Orders which he proposed to repeal with the -view of substituting amended ones for them were Nos. 109, 127, and 128. The alterations in No. 109 were intended to clear up doubts which had arisen as to the power of Committees to hear municipal authorities upon local Bills, in regard to which they were not parties; while the Amendments in Nos. 127 and 128 had been suggested by the Chairman of Ways and Means, who had devoted so much attention to the business of the House, that his recommendation alone ought to be sufficient to procure their acceptance. The lion, and gallant Gentleman moved the repeal of Standing Order No. 109.

§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

Sir, I will avail myself of the opportunity which is afforded by the Motion of my hon. and gallant Friend to bear my testimony—and I am sure that all present will bear their testimony—to the great merits of those hon. Members who as Chairmen of Private Bill Committees have during the Session devoted so much time to, and bestowed, so much labour upon, the business which has been referred to them. The public in general are informed by the ordinary channels of the labours of the Members of this House with regard to public business; and hon. Members who have the opportunity of delivering' their sentiments upon public measures with ability and success gain for themselves a deserved reputation, with their constituents, and with the country at large. The public in general, however, are not aware how much is done for the public interest in a way which obtains for those who do it no public credit and no public reputation. I believe that there is no assembly in the world in which so much gratuitous labour is bestowed upon useful practical measures—which are called private, hut are really public measures affecting public interests—as is bestowed in the House of Commons. Until within the last two years private Bills—by which I mean railway, canal, and road Bills, and other measures having for their objects the making of public improvements of all sorts and kinds —were referred to Committees, each of which [frequently had a different chairman and different members from those Bills of the same nature which had preceded it. The result was that decisions varied, parties were left in great uncertainty a* to the course which any given Committee would take, and very frequently much inconvenience was felt 482 and great injury was sustained. About; two years ago a, permanent panel of Chairmen of Committees of this kind was established, and I understand that the result of that alteration has been highly creditable to the House, and very advantageous to the interests of parties concerned in such Bills; that the decisions of the Committees have been guided by uniform principles; that proceedings have been very much abridged; that unnecessary delays have been avoided; and that, upon the whole, no change bearing upon these matters has ever been so universally acknowledged to be an improvement as has the establishment of the Chairmen's panel. It is due to those who have contributed to this result that their names should be known to the House and to the public. They have devoted themselves in the most exemplary manner to the public service, sacrificing their private occupations and engagements, and devoting both their mornings to a self-imposed task. They are entitled to our thanks and acknowledgments. Mr. Adair has sat sixty three days in the course of the present Session as Chairman of these Committees. Mr. Ridley has sat fifty-five days, Mr. Ingham forty-five days, Lord March forty-three days, and Mr. Scholefield thirty-seven days. Mr. Mowbray and Mr. Hardy were unable, from different circumstances, to continue their labours during the whole of the Session; but Mr. Mowbra3r sat twenty-two days, and Mr. Hardy sat thirteen. It is due to these Gentlemen, who have set so bright an example of devotion to the public service—to which they were not called except by their own voluntary act—that the House and the public should be made aware of the value of their services—services from which the country has derived great benefit.