§ Order for Second Beading read.
§ MR. HIBBERT, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, it was only right he should explain the object of the Bill. The Bill was intended to remove doubts respecting marriages which had taken place in the District Church of Stopsley, in the parish of Luton, in the county of Bedford. The New Parishes Act, 1843, required that when any church had been set up, it should, after being consecrated, be approved by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, whereupon the district in which the church was situated should be deemed to be a new parish for ecclesiastical purposes, and it should be lawful to solemnize marriages in such church. In this ease the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, for some reason or other, did not signify their approval when the Stopsley Church was consecrated in 1862. Marriages had taken place for the last 21 years in the church. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners had now given their approval; and this Bill was 787 introduced in the House of Lords by the Bishop of Ely for the purpose of removing any doubts that might exist as to the legality of the marriages solemnized in the church. After this explanation he hoped the House would agree to the second reading.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."—(Mr. Hibbert.)
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for To-morrow.