HC Deb 06 April 1854 vol 132 cc569-78
LORD ELCHO

said, he rose to move for leave to bring in a Bill to provide for the better Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland. It would be unnecessary for him to dwell on the importance of the subject, or to point out how essential it was that a country, claiming to rank amongst the civilised nations of the globe, should be in possession of an accurate register of the births, deaths, and marriages of its people. He would merely, therefore, explain to the House as briefly and clearly as he could what was the present system of registration in Scotland, what attempts had been made to remedy its deficiencies, and what were the general provisions of the measure he sought to introduce. The present system of registration in Scotland would be admitted by all who were acquainted with it to be extremely defective, and as existing in name rather than in reality; for it was not a system of registration of births, marriages, and deaths, as understood in this country, but an ecclesiastical custom of recording births, burials, and the proclamations of banns. He held in his hand a return which had been moved for by Viscount Melgund, and prepared by Mr. Brodie, the Crown agent, of the number of births, of deaths, and of marriages registered in each parish of each county in Scotland, in each year since the 31st day of December, 1841, and the scale of fees established in each parish for such registrations. To this return Mr. Brodie had appended these remarks:— It may be proper to mention that they almost universally explain—1. That, there being no register of births, the column headed 'Births' embraces baptisms merely, and of these only the limited number which are registered. 2. That, there being no register of deaths, the column headed 'Deaths' embraces burials merely, and of these only a very limited number. 3. That, there being no register of marriages, the column headed 'Marriages' embraces only proclamations with a view to marriage. Of course, the number of proclamations affords hardly any criterion of the number of marriages, since on the occasion of each marriage there must generally be proclamation in two parishes, and proclamations must often occur where either no marriage follows or the marriage takes place in a parish different from the parish or parishes in which proclamation is made. 4. As to the scale of fees—(1) the column headed 'Deaths' is not filled up, there being no proper register either of deaths or burials, and consequently no fees charged; and (2) the column headed 'Marriages' is rarely filled up, any fees charged being usually paid with reference to the proclamations. He had, likewise, with him some statistics which he had been favoured with by Dr. Stark, a gentleman to whom Scotland was much indebted for his researches on this question, showing the number of births, deaths, and marriages registered in each of the counties of Scotland in 1850, with the calculated proportion of these on the Scottish standard—viz. 1 birth in every 31 of the population, 1 death out of every 44 living, and 1 marriage for every 131 souls. On looking to the general result of this return, he found that the population of Scotland, having been, in 1851, 2,870,784, while the number of births registered was only 27,031, the number calculated was 92,605; that, while the number of deaths registered was only 19,587, the number calculated was 65,242; and that, while the number of marriages registered was 23,848, the number calculated was only 21,914, the difference in the latter case arising from the discrepancy between the number of proclamations of banns and the number of marriages actually celebrated. He thought these statistics manifested the imperfect state of the existing registration. At various times attempts had been made to remedy this defect. In 1834, 1835, and 1837, a gentleman now no more, Mr. Robert Stuart, had brought in Bills on the subject. These Bills were not successful, and did not pass into law; and their failure might be chiefly attributed to the circumstance that the payment of registration fees being thrown upon the parties registering, it was thought to be a great hardship on the poor, and calculated to deter the people from registering. In 1847, 1848, and 1849, Lord Rutherfurd brought in Marriage Registration Bills for Scotland, which likewise failed to become law—a failure that might be attributed mainly, if not entirely, to their unfortunate connection with a proposed alteration of the law of marriage in Scotland which was peculiarly distasteful to the people of that country. Although all these measures had thus failed, there was, so far from any feeling of hostility to the principle now sought to be carried out, an earnest desire on the part of the people of Scotland to have a remedy applied to the existing most defective system of registration—a desire which had been strongly manifested by articles in the public press, and by communications from all parts of Scotland. The Committee of the General Assembly, which had been appointed to inquire into registration, had, on the 30th of May, 1853, thus reported:— Your Committee have taken into consideration the remit of the General Assembly, and have become convinced that no efforts of the Church, through its courts, of the clergy individually, or of the session clerks, could so improve the present registers as to render them equal to the requirements of the public or of science, and they recommend that a petition to both Houses of Parliament should be drawn up and forwarded, praying Government to extend the benefits of registration of births, deaths, and marriages to Scotland, by bringing forward a Bill. There was, likewise, on the same subject, a memorial, of which he held a copy in his hand, which had been presented to the Lord Advocate from the Lord Provost, magistrates, and town council of Edinburgh, and from which he would read this extract:— No provision has ever yet been made by the Legislature, or otherwise, for a complete register of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland; and the attention of the town council of Edinburgh having been directed to the subject, they, of this date (Dec. 7, 1853), unanimously resolved that a memorial should be addressed to the Lord Advocate. It was in deference, therefore, to the wishes of the people of Scotland, thus strongly expressed, that Government had thought it their duty to bring in the Bill of which he would now shortly state the provisions. In the Bill which Lord Rutherfurd had introduced, there was a most complete system of registration devised, but an objection had been taken to it on the ground that the machinery, in its completeness, would entail great expense on the country, and it was conceived that by a different system that expense might be avoided. Warned by the objection so made to Lord Rutherfurd's Bill, an attempt had been made in the measure he proposed to introduce, to combine the utmost degree of efficiency with the utmost degree of economy, and to avail themselves as far as possible, for this purpose, of the machinery which already existed in Scotland, so far as it could be advantageously employed. Central control was deemed essential for the efficiency of a system of registration, and therefore it was proposed, for the purposes of a general registry office, to make use of the existing Register Office in Edinburgh, the deputy clerk registrar being appointed registrar general for the purposes of the Act, with an addition to his present salary of 500l. of 300l. per annum, and a secretary being likewise appointed with a salary of 300l. per annum; and it was hoped that, with the assistance of this secretary, the registrar general would be able to discharge all the additional duties so imposed on him. It was hardly necessary that he should explain to Gentlemen connected with Scotland that the Register Office in Edinburgh was the depository of all the national deeds connected with the property of the country; and, if it were admitted to be necessary that there should be a complete register of births, marriages, and deaths, no more appropriate depository could be found for such a purpose than the office in which the property deeds of the country were placed. The same principle which had led to the selection of the Registry Office in Edinburgh had likewise led them to avail themselves as much as possible of the machinery already existing in county divisions. It was intended that the sheriff of each county should have the general superintendence in that county of the working of the Act—that they should be the superintendent registrars under the Act. The duties thus imposed on them would not be onerous, and would be, in some degree, analogous with the ministerial duties they now performed; it was, therefore, not intended that any increased salary should be given to them on account of these additional duties. It would be recollected that last year a measure had been passed enabling the Treasury to augment the salaries of the sheriffs of Scotland. Acting upon the powers confided to them, the Treasury had, with that happy combination of justice and liberality which characterised all the acts of that department of the State, fixed the salaries of the sheriffs upon so liberal a footing, that he did not think they would be justified in objecting, and he did not believe they would object to undertake the duty imposed upon them by this Bill, without an increase of salary. With regard to the parish registrars, it was proposed that in the first instance the preference should be given to vested interests, there being a clause in the Bill which was not in Lord Rutherfurd's Bill—by which the present system of registration in Scotland was to cease and determine on the 1st of January, 1855, and it was therefore intended to make the present session clerks registrars under the Act. Much might be said on both sides with reference to the appointment of existing session clerks as registrars; but it would be only an act of justice during their lives, where they were fully competent to discharge their duties, and where it should appear to the sheriffs and the registrar general that no valid objection on the ground of competency could be brought against them, that they should be appointed, deriving, however, no vested right from such reappointment, but being liable to removal for misconduct. On the death or removal of the existing holders, it was proposed that the appointment of the parish registrars should rest, in towns with the town council, and in country parishes with the parochial boards, subject to the approval of the sheriff and of the registrar general. With regard to the manner in which the expense was to be met, it was proposed that the expenses of the central office, the salaries of the registrar general, of the secretary, and the charges for providing stationery, books, and everything necessary for registration, should be paid by the Treasury, in defraying which expenses the Treasury would be only doing that which it did in England, and it could not reasonably be expected to do more. With respect to the payment of the parish registrars, following the precedent of Lord Rutherfurd's Bill, it was proposed that those registrars should be paid by fees at the rate of 2s. for each entry upon the first twenty names, and ls. after- wards, and that the amount should be raised by assessment. According to the calculations of Lord Rutherfurd on this subject, which he had every reason to believe were correct, the amount of assessment necessary for the payment of the parish registrars would not exceed 10,000l. per annum—a very small sum considering the benefit of the measure to the public. Having thus stated the general provisions of the Bill, as to its machinery, he now came to the mode in which he proposed it should work—how notices should be given and entries made. In the case of births, the parents would be bound to give notice, or, in the event of their being unable to do so from death, illness, or other inability, the person having charge of the child, the nurse, or the person occupying the house in which the birth had taken place, would be bound to give the notice; a notice given by any of these parties would exempt the rest from the penalties that would accrue were no notice given. In the case of an illegitimate child the notice would be given by the mother, or, in the event of her death or illness, by the father, the nurse, or the occupier of the house or tenement. The father's name, in such cases, would not have to be inserted on the register without his consent, or unless his paternity had been proved in a court of justice, in which case the clerk of such court would send notice to the registrar, and then the party's name would be inserted. There was also a clause for the legitimisation of such children on the register, when so enabled by the fact of subsequens matrimonium. There was likewise a clause by which the certificate of registration was to be produced at the baptism of children, and another requiring children to be brought to the registrar, when he entertained any doubt as to the sex of the child, or of the existence of any attempt otherwise at fraud in the matter. He now came to the registration of deaths. It was proposed that the nearest relative should be bound to give notice, or, in his absence, by reason of illness, or other cause, then the occupier of the house in which the death had occurred—the notice was to be given within eight days. The certificate of the registrar was to be produced at the funeral, and in the absence of such certificate the person officiating would be bound to give notice thereof to the registrar. There would be a marine register kept at Edinburgh, in which all births and deaths at sea would be regis- tered, a copy of the entry being sent from the office to the registrar of the parish to which the person belonged. With respect to marriages, taking warning here also by the failure of Lord Rutherfurd's Bill, it was proposed not to touch or affect the present Marriage Law of Scotland. He did not pretend to say whether the present state of the Marriage Law in Scotland was the best or the worst that could be devised, as it was variously viewed; it was sufficient to know that the people of Scotland regarded with jealousy and suspicion any attempt to interfere with a law to which they were so wedded; and, therefore, no attempt would be made in this Bill to interfere, in any way, with that law. All he hoped to do was, to attain, as far as possible, a register of all marriages which took place in Scotland—regular or irregular, whether by civil contract or by religious ceremony. The proposal, therefore, was, that all persons contracting marriage should register their marriage, either at its solemnisation, or within a month afterwards; that the clergyman and all persons officially connected with the marriage should send notice to the registrar; that the justices of the peace, magistrates, and witnesses before whom regular marriages were contracted should send notice to the registrar; and where persons were fined for irregular marriages, that notice should be sent to the registrar, and entered accordingly, and that the same should take place where the marriage should be declared good by decree of Court. With regard to the mode of making entries, it was proposed that all entries should be made in duplicate, that each entry should be signed by two witnesses, and that at the end of each year the duplicate books should be taken to the county town to he examined by the sheriff, who should certify their accuracy by affixing his signature to them. One of these duplicate copies would then be sent to the registrar general, to be deposited in the Register Office in Edinburgh, and the other copy would be retained in the parish. Indexes would also be kept in the parish and at Edinburgh, to be inspected on the payment of a small fee. In this way an attempt would be made to combine an efficient system of local and general registration, because he looked upon it as essential that there should always be a copy of the parish register for inspection in the parish. These being the general provisions of the Bill, he now came to the question of how these provisions should be enforced. He had already expressed his belief that no system of registration could be complete which was not under some central control, and in the same manner he felt confident that no system of registration could be effective which was not compulsory. He therefore proposed that the provisions of the Act should be enforced by penalties which, it was hoped, would be effective without being onerous; and he hoped that hon. Gentlemen connected with Scotland would not object to making the Act compulsory. He expressed this hope, because although at first sight it might appear a hardship upon the poor, who might be supposed to be ignorant of the value of registration, to compel them to conform to the provisions of this Act, yet it was in reality in the interest of the poor that it should be made compulsory. Those persons who might have had their attention particularly directed to this subject could form but little idea of the enormous sums which were annually dependent, and the succession to which entirely depended upon the accuracy of the parish registers. He had lately been in communication with a gentleman who was for some years rector of Sandon, in the county of Stafford, and who stated that during his period of incumbency, extending only over fifteen years, sums exceeding 40,000l. (the parish containing only about 600 inhabitants) were dependent upon the accuracy of the parish registers, and many persons who had succeeded to these large sums of money were persons in the humblest sphere of life. He would, therefore, again express the hope that there would be no objection to making the Bill compulsory. Many provisions of the Act had been adopted from the system which prevailed in France, Belgium, and the Rhenish provinces, where, under the Code Napoleon, a most efficient system of registration was in operation. In those countries registration was compulsory, and, so far from being regarded by the poor as a hardship and an evil, it was looked upon as the greatest boon which an enlightened Government could confer upon the people; for while the rich had their title deeds, their parchments, and their sculptured monuments, there was literally no record of the poor man's birth or death, except the parish register, which might not inaptly be called the charter of the poor man. He trusted, therefore, that the Bill would be made compulsory. He had now stated the provisions of the Bill, or at least its principal provisions. There were many other clauses to which it was unnecessary to allude, but he hoped that every Scotch Member who had the interest of Scotland at heart would, without regard to party, endeavour to perfect in Committee a measure which he believed to be essential for the well-being of Scotland. Should the House kindly permit him to bring in this Bill, he trusted that he might again rely upon their cordial assistance in perfecting the Bill when in Committee. He would, therefore, move for leave to bring in a Bill for amending the registration of births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland.

MR. DUNLOP

said, he must beg to express his great satisfaction at the statement of the noble Lord; he thought the measure was one which, in its general features, would meet with the approbation of Scotchmen. With regard to marriages, he was certainly not so great an admirer of the Scotch system of marriage as to believe that it was not susceptible of some improvement, particularly that persons might know whether they were really married or not. At present, in Scotland, a man might be married and yet be quite ignorant of it, and it was certainly desirable that that state of things should be remedied. He thought, however, that it was quite right not to mix up that subject with this question. The measure, he felt convinced, would, as a whole, give satisfaction in Scotland, and prove a very good and useful one.

MR. LOCKHART

said, he thought the Bill a great improvement upon the former measure upon the subject, which had been before the House, and would promise to give it his best attention when it went into Committee.

MR. DUNCAN

said, that as one of those who had opposed the former Bill upon this subject, he wished to tender his best thanks to the noble Lord for the attention he had bestowed upon the matter. The measure should have his cordial support.

LORD ELCHO

said, he had to thank the Members for Scotland for the kind reception they had given to the measure, and he had not the least doubt that with their co-operation the Bill would be made an efficient one. The course he proposed to take was to fix the second reading for the 12th of May, and afterwards to submit it to a Select Committee of Scotch Members, according to the usual practice with regard to Scotch Bills.

Leave given; Bill ordered to be brought in by Lord Elcho, Viscount Palmerston, and the Lord Advocate.