§ Mr. Humecalled the attention of the House to the Report of the Committee on Printed Papers, in pursuance of which Report he, as Chairman of the Committee, proposed to move certain Resolutions, with a view to carry the scheme upon which they had agreed into effect. It was proposed that the statutes should be printed of one uniform 473 size, that they should be distributed to Members by the Vote-office free of expense, and that copies should be sent to Courts, and public offices exclusively for public use. Some difference of opinion occurred in the Committee as to whether port folio or royal octavo would be the better form in which to promulgate Acts of Parliament. It would be for the House to determine whether the octavo size, which was that mentioned in the Resolution, was the best. He concluded by moving the first Resolution, "that the Resolutions of the 7th of May, 1801, with respect to printed papers, be rescinded, and that the recommendations of the Committee be adopted in their stead."
Mr. Francis Baringcould not pledge the Government to the adoption of the recommendation of the Committee without further consideration and examination of the evidence. What was the advantage of tying the House down strictly to those recommendations at the present period of the Session, when no practical result could immediately arise from them? Government was ready to look into those recommendations with a view to the adoption, in the next Session, of a scheme founded on the Report of the Committee.
Mr. Vernon Smithwas of opinion that the immediate adoption of the Resolutions would be the best course.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, that the Government could have no other object than to promote the public advantage and the convenience of the House, and in order to do this in the most effective manner they asked time for deliberation.
§ Sir Robert Ingliswas ready to leave the matter in the hands of the Government, which would, no doubt, exercise a sound discretion on the subject.
§ Mr. Humewas ready to modify his first Resolution, in order to meet the views of the Government; trusting that, if he did so, there would be no objection to agree to those which he should afterwards propose. He would substitute for the Resolution originally proposed, the following:—"That it is the opinion of the House that the Resolutions of May 7, 1801, with respect to printed papers, be rescinded, and that a new 'scheme of distribution, founded on the recommendations of the Committee, be adopted.
§ Motion agreed to.
474§ Mr. Hume's series of Resolutions to the 10th were also agreed to.
§ On the 10th Resolution, providing that the Journals, Parliamentary Papers, and Reports should in future be printed in a more compressed form and with smaller type,
§ The House divided on the original Question. Ayes 40; Noes 22; Majority 18.
| List of the AYES. | |
| Aglionby, H. A. | O'Connell, J. |
| Bagshaw, J. | O'Loghlen, M. |
| Baring, F. | Ord, W. H. |
| Blake, J. M. | Pechell, Capt. |
| Beauclerk, Major | Perrin, L. |
| Brotherton, J. | Potter, R. |
| Brocklehurst, J. | Pryse, P. |
| Buller, C. | Rice, Rt. Hn. T. S. |
| Carter, J.B. | Russell, Lord J. |
| Denison, J. E. | Ronayne, D. |
| Elphinstone, H. | Seale, Col. |
| Ewart, W. | Stuart, Lord D. |
| Fielden, J. | Stanley, E. J. |
| Hall, B. | Smith, C. V. |
| Hawes, B. | Thornely. T. |
| Hindly, C. | Wakley, T. |
| Howard, P. | Warburton, H. |
| Hume, J. | Walker, C. A. |
| Morpeth, Lord | Williams, W. |
| O'Brien, W.S. | Williams, W. A. |
| O'Connell, D. | Wyse, T. |
§ The original Resolution adopted.
§ The remaining Resolutions were postponed.