ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE.—COMMITTEE UPON PUBLIC PETITIONS. (Hansard, 25 August 1860)

§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTON

Sir, before proposing that this House at its rising do adjourn until Tuesday next, I take the opportunity of calling the attention of the House and the country to an instance of the diligent devotion of time and labour, and the very important public services rendered by hon. Members of this House, which from their nature do not attract the notice either of the House in general or the public at large. I am referring to the labours of the Committee upon Petitions, a Committee which was established in 1832, and has since then, laboriously and advantageously to the public service, continued to perform the functions devolving upon it. Previous to that time there was no arrangement in regard to the printing of petitions, 1816 and it chiefly depended upon the Motion of the hon. Member who presented a petition whether it should be printed or not. In 1832 a Committee was appointed, and has continuously been appointed since, upon which has devolved the task of examining all the petitions that are presented, and of making from them a selection of those which, from the importance of the matter to which they refer, or the importance of the parties from whom they proceed, they think most deserving of being brought to the special notice of the House, by being printed and made a part of and circulated with the Votes. This Session has been one in which this Committee has had great and peculiar labours to perform. The average number of petitions presented in each year during the five years preceding 1859 was 8,676, and the average aggregate number of signatures to these petitions was 1,074,000. The number of petitions presented in the Session now about to terminate is 24,264, and the House will judge of the additional labour in reading and considering that increased number which has devolved on the Committee. The total number of signatures, although not yet accurately ascertained, is believed to exceed 3,000,000. The Committee have made fifty-four Reports during the course of the Session. The number of petitions presented has been larger this Session than in any year since 1832, excepting the single year of 1843. Then again, as to the number of petitions which have been selected for printing, the average number of the last five years was 910, but this Session 1,587 have been thus selected. The House will perceive from these facts the vast amount of business which this Committee beneficially and gratuitously undertakes to perform, and the extent of the service which they render, not only to this House but to the petitioners, whose desires and suggestions are brought by them in a more distinct manner under the consideration of the House. It is only fair to the Committee that I should mention their names, because, although they are well known to those of this House who take an interest in these subjects, yet they are not known to the public at large. The chairman is Mr. Gregson, the hon. Member for Lancaster, who has been most indefatigable in his attendance. The other Members are Mr. Carter, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Alderman Cubitt, Mr. Davison, Mr. Dillwyn, Mr. Forster (who also takes an active and important share in the private business of the 1817 House), Mr. Gard, Captain Gray, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hastings Russell, Mr. Abel Smith, Mr. Stanley, and Mr. Walter Talbot. I think it is only right that I should take this opportunity of mentioning the amount of labour undertaken and performed by this Committee, and the country will be able to judge from that statement how much business, important and interesting to the public, is performed by Members of the House which forms no part of the debates that take place in this House, and how much service is rendered by hon. Members who have not the satisfaction of knowing that the manner in which they perform public duties will from day to day be brought under the notice of the public. The noble Lord concluded by moving that the House at its rising do adjourn until Tuesday next.