§ THE EARL OF DERBYrose to call the attention of the Government to the state of public business in the two Houses of Parliament. He had examined the Paper of business of the other House, and he found that for the present week there were set down for consideration no fewer than thirty-eight Bills, which had not yet been before their Lordships, independently of twelve others which had passed their Lordships' House. Of those thirty-eight Bills fourteen had not yet been read a second time, nineteen were in Committee, and five stood for third reading. It was perfectly well known that the whole of that evening would be occupied by a discussion in the other House which would not allow of the further progress of any disputed Bills; while Thursday and Friday next were set apart for the consideration of Bills which had been sent down from their Lordships' House—a very proper arrangement, provided it were not intended to go on afterwards with the other Bills; but if the other business were all to be proceeded with, instead of Parliament being prorogued by the 20th of August, as had been stated, the 20th of September would be a more likely day. He did hope that the Government would interfere to prevent that which of late years they had desired to prevent, and which had always been a great scandal and inconvenience—viz., the hurried manner in which Bills were pressed through the two Houses, more especially through their 419 Lordships' House, at the close of the Session, when there were scarcely any Members present to discuss them. It was impossible that the great majority of the thirty-eight Bills could be sent up for a fortnight at least, and when he stated that on Friday last there were no fewer than twenty pages of Amendments to be moved and discussed upon those different Bills in Committee in the other House, he left their Lordships to imagine when it was likely that the Government would be able to prorogue. Under these circumstances he did not think that it would be an unreasonable thing to propose that their Lordships should not take Bills into their consideration, unless they were of great necessity and importance, after the first week in August; and he suggested to the Government that they should now state that they would not receive any Bills after Tuesday, the 4th of August, except those of indisputable urgency. This perhaps might induce the House of Commons either to curtail some of their business, or to get on with it a little faster than they seemed disposed to do at present.
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, that the attempts made in previous Sessions by the noble Lord (Lord Redesdale) to mitigate the evil complained of had certainly been attended with success. With regard to the present Session, however, he had been in communication with the noble Lord, and it was felt that owing to the late period at which the Session began, and the uncertainty which prevailed as to the time of the prorogation, it was unadvisable that his usual Resolution should be moved; and the noble Lord, therefore, consented to waive it. He had no doubt that under ordinary circumstances such a Motion would be of considerable use. At the same time, it was somewhat undesirable that one branch of the Legislature should take upon itself to control to a certain extent the period at which Parliament should be prorogued without much attention to the state of public business, and, therefore, this power of fixing a day beyond which no new Bills should be read a second time ought to be exercised with considerable delicacy. Of the thirty-eight Bills which the noble Earl alluded to as yet to come before their Lordships, it must be remembered that some of them would be disposed of at morning sittings, and would therefore be presented to this House earlier than the noble Earl seemed to anticipate. At the same time, if a Motion to the effect suggested were submitted by the noble Earl, he should 420 offer no opposition on the part of the Government. He should have preferred, however, that another week had been allowed, and, as a middle course, would suggest that the 7th, not the 4th, of August should be the day fixed.
§ THE EARL OF DERBYsaid he was quite satisfied to accept the modified proposition of the noble Earl, and fix the 7th of August. All he wanted was some definite proposition.
§ LORD REDESDALEsaid, that after what had fallen from the noble Earl opposite, he would now give notice that he should to-morrow move the adoption of the usual order with regard to Public Bills, fixing the 7th of August as the last day for second readings, and making that a Bill day. He was extremely glad that this conclusion was come to.