§ SIR JOHN SHELLEYsaid, he wished to make an appeal to the right hon. Baronet the Home Secretary upon a subject; Which had been already touched upon by the noble Lord the Foreign Minister—he meant the Motion for the second reading of the Bill for the Reform of the Corporation of the City of London. He wished to ask whether it was the serious intention of the right hon. Baronet to bring on a measure of that importance at this Session of the year. The Bill contained seventy-three clauses, and if the right hon. Gentleman supposed that the measure was going to swim through the House without opposition he was much mistaken, as he (Sir John Shelley) had given notice of several Amendments to the Bill. he believed it was the intention of the Government to bring in another Bill with regard to the finance of the City, and he thought it would be better to bring in both Bills early in the next Session.
SIR GEORGE LEWISsaid, that if the time of the year were to be an absolute bar to any discussion whatever, then of course it would be necessary that the Bill should be postponed; but, considering that there had been very little legislation before Easter, it would follow that nothing would be done this year. The subject had been frequently under the consideration of the House, and he was not aware that it was likely the House would obtain any more light to aid them in legislating in this matter next Session than at present; and, considering that the question had been divested of its most serious difficulty, namely, the financial portion, which was to be the 1300 subject of a separate Bill, he wished the House to pronounce an opinion on the measure at once on the present Bill. If the opinion of the House were favourable to the measure, then he would attempt to carry it through this Session; or, if the House were favourable to delay, he must, of course, bow to their decision. He would endeavour to state on Monday next the day on which he would be prepared to bring the subject forward.