§ The Lord Advocatemoved for leave to bring in a Bill "to Facilitate the Disjoining or Dividing of Extensive or Populous Parishes, and the Erecting of New Parishes, 598 in Scotland." The general object he had in view in proposing to introduce the Bill was to remove certain defects in the existing law relating to the Division of Parishes in Scotland. As the law stood at present, extensive parishes might be divided by the authority of the Court, but not unless a large majority of the heritors consented. The consent of a majority of three-fourths of the heritors was required. This appeared to him to be rather unreasonable, as it was in the power of one-fourth of the heritors of a Parish to prevent its division. He proposed, therefore, to allow the proceedings for the division of a Parish to go on upon the assent of a clear majority of heritors. There was another detect in the law as at present existing, inasmuch as no power was given for the division of a Parish, unless it was too large in territorial extent. He proposed to make the extent of population also a ground for dismemberment. By the existing law, also, there was no power given to the Court of erecting separate parishes, even when the expense of building the Church and endowing the clergyman was provided for by private individuals, unless by the consent of the heritors. Now as it did not appear that there was in cases of this kind any interference with the civil rights of the heritors, in having parishes subdivided and established merely with a view to religious purposes, and when the funds were provided by private persons, he proposed to give to the Court the power of constituting parishes, quoad spiritualia in the cases in which the endowments had been made by private individuals. The Court, would, however, always hear reasonable objections to propositions of the kind. These were the leading features of the Measure, which he would at once move for leave to bring in.
§ Leave given.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before seven o'clock.