§ Order for Committee read.
§ House in Committee.
§ Clause 1.
§ MR. CHISHOLM ANSTEYsaid, he objected to the registering of Dissenting places of worship altogether. They were not registered in Scotland, and he did not see why they should be registered in England. He proposed to omit all the words relating to registration, and to insert, in lieu of them, the repeal of the Acts requiring such registration.
The ATTORNEY GENERALbegged to explain that the Bill had come down from the Lords, and was in charge of the right hon. Member for Cambridge University (Mr. Goulburn), for whom he was undertaking it. As the Bill came down from the Lords, it proposed that Dissenting chapels, instead of being registered in the Bishops' or Archdeacons' Court, should be registered by the Clerk of the Peace. The hon. Member for Manchester (Mr. Bright) had proposed an Amendment to the effect that the registration should be made by the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages; and, the Government assenting, he (the Attorney General) had not only taken charge of the Bill for the right hon. Member for Cambridge University, but also the Amendment of the hon. Member for Manchester; and it was rather extraordinary to find himself now met by the opposition of the hon. and learned Member for Youghal.
The CHAIRMANsaid, that the Amendment of the hon. and learned Member, being to repeal the existing Acts, was inconsistent with the Preamble, which proposed to amend the law.
§ MR. CHISHOLM ANSTEYsaid, that had that explanation been made in the first instance he would not have objected to the Bill.
§ Clause agreed to; as were the remaining Clauses.
§ House resumed. Bill reported.