STATE OF PUBLIC BUSINESS. (Hansard, 24 July 1849)

LORD STANLEY
said, they were now within three or four days of the termination of the Session, and on that day, the 24th of July, there had come from the House of Commons no less than seven Bills then to be read a first time by their Lordships. Two or three of those Bills were of very considerable importance. One of them was a Bill to provide for the collection of rates in the City of Dublin, another was the Poor-law Union Charges Act Amendment Bill, and there was also a most important Bill to amend the Laws relating to Pilotage. That was a measure of very serious importance; it touched, by some of its provisions, on the treaties of reciprocity with foreign Powers, and its importance could hardly be exaggerated. Those seven Bills were sent to them when Parliament was about to separate in three or four days. On the preceding day twenty-two Bills were passed through different stages; he know not how many had been passed through different stages on that day, and now they had sent up to them another set of Bills. He must say that nothing could be more unsatisfactory than the manner in which they were in the habit of legislating at the close of a Session. He would not throw any impediment in the way of passing measures that were necessary to be passed, but there was no reason for not bringing them forward at an earlier period. There was no reason for these Bills being deferred almost to the very last day.

§ EARL GREY
said, that complaint made on this subject was, to a certain extent, a well-founded complaint; but it was not a new complaint. It was fifty years old at the very least; and year after year, under various Administrations, the complaint had been made. He was afraid it was a necessary consequence of the constitution of the two Houses of Parliament. He, for one, had supported a Bill that would greatly tend to mitigate the inconvenience, and he greatly regretted that in the other House of Parliament that Bill had failed; he thought the Bill would have worked advantageously. But great as the inconvenience was, he did not think, with reference to those Bills that were now brought up, there was any reason for delaying 881 them. When the noble lord said it was discreditable on the part of the Government to send them up to that House at that time, he should remember how they were circumstanced in the other House of Parliament. Her Majesty's Ministers had but the command of two days in the week, and of those two days they were continually deprived by Motions brought in by individual Members as Amendments on going into Committee of Supply. It was necessary to make every effort to carry, as soon as possible, the important measures of the Session that had been made; and many measures of great importance were brought that year before their Lordships at an earlier period of the Session than usual. The measure for the repeal of the Navigation Laws had been brought before the House at an earlier period than measures of that importance had boon usually brought forward. With regard to the Bills now on the table, he believed some of those Bills were merely continuing Bills, and one of them was a private Act. The Bill with regard to pilotage was, no doubt, a Bill of considerable importance; but it was merely a measure giving to certain bodies in this country the power, if they think fit, of relaxing their rules for the convenience of the mercantile marine; and when his noble Friend moved the second reading of this Bill, their Lordships would find there was no reason whatever to delay it. He assured their Lordships that he greatly regretted the manner in which Bills of importance were, by the present constitution of the two Houses, necessarily laid before their Lordships within a very short period of the close of the Session.

LORD STANLEY
was aware of the difficulty experienced by Government in carrying Bills through the other House of Parliament, by the limited time which they had at their disposal; but with regard to the Pilotage Bill, that apology would not answer. So far from there being any difficulty in carrying that Bill through the House of Commons, the Motion for leave to introduce it was only made on the 12th of the present month. That measure, he supposed, was a corollary to the repeal of the navigation laws, and there was no reason for not bringing it forward at an earlier period. It met with no delay or obstruction in the other House of Parliament; and it was the fault of the Government, and of the Government alone, that the Bill had been delayed. Could there be a stronger proof of the carelessness with which legis- 882 lation in both Houses was carried on than was to be found in this fact—that they were now going to have a Bill brought in to correct a blunder made in another Bill I a fortnight ago? A measure was brought in with regard to defects in leases. The Bill was passed sub silentio; and within a fortnight from the passing of that Bill, it being found utterly absurd and impracticable, another Bill was brought in to correct it.