HC Deb 05 May 1884 vol 287 cc1451-3

Order for Second Beading read.

MR. SHAW LEFEVRE moved that the Order be discharged. He proposed to take this course so that the Bill might be introduced in the other House. He had failed to induce hon. Gentlemen, who opposed the Bill, to remove their blocks; and as it was absolutely necessary that the Bill should pass on an early day, in order that it might be referred to a Select Committee, he begged to move that the Order be discharged.

Motion made, and Question proposed, ''That the Order for the Second Reading be discharged."—(Mr. Shaw Lefevre.)

MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR

asked if the Bill could be introduced in the House of Lords, inasmuch as it was a Money Bill?

MR. WARTON

begged to move that the Order be not discharged.

MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR

rose to Order. He desired to ask whether the Bill could be introduced in the House of Lords without infringing the Privileges of the Commons?

MR. SPEAKER

It is competent for the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Shaw Lefevre) to move that the Order be discharged.

MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR

pointed out that the right hon. Gentleman had explained that his object in moving that the Order be discharged was that the Bill might be introduced in the other House. Could such a reason be of any weight at all unless they knew that the Bill could be introduced in the House of Lords?

MR. HICKS

said, that, after the re marks which had fallen from the right hon. Gentleman the First Commissioner of Works, it might, perhaps, be well that the House should understand the reason why objection had been taken to proceeding with the Bill after half-past 12 o'clock at night. [Laughter.] He repeated, that, after the remarks which had fallen from the First Commissioner of Works, it was desirable the House should be acquainted with the objections which had been taken to passing the Bill in the early hours of the morning without any discussion; and he was not going to be debarred from narrating the facts by any interruption from Gentle men on the Front Treasury Bench. Hon. and right hon. Gentlemen opposite talked both in and out of the House about Obstruction; but he hoped the country would understand that the Obstruction came from those Gentlemen themselves, by interrupting independent Members of the House. Now, the objection to the Bill was that Her Majesty's Government asked the House——

MR. SHAW LEFEVRE

asked whether it was competent for the hon. Gentleman to discuss the Bill?

MR. SPEAKER

It is not competent for the hon. Gentleman to discuss the merits of the Bill, or the clauses of the Bill. He can only refer to the Question now before the House, which is that the Order be discharged.

MR. HICKS

said, it would be in the recollection of the Speaker that the First Commissioner of Works used words implying censure upon those who had objected to the Bill being passed without discussion; and if he (Mr. Hicks) was in Order——

MR. SHAW LEFEVRE

I never implied any censure.

MR. HICKS

Mr. Speaker, I am entirely in your hands.

MR. SPEAKER

The Question is that the Order be discharged.

Question put, and agreed to.

Order discharged.

Bill withdrawn.