§ MR. W. H. GREGORY, in presenting two Petitions from London, one signed by 23,000 and the other by 20,000 persons in favour of opening museums on Sundays, and also two other Petitions to the same effect., said, that with the permission of the House he wished to say a few words on a question of Privilege. It was stated the other night by his hon. Friend the Member for Marylebone (Mr. T. Chambers), that two persons named Beck and Biggs had informed the Lord's Day Observance Society that they had forged a very large number of the signatures attached to the Petition from the metropolis. He (Mr. W. H. Gregory) was now authorized to state that a declaration had been made by the Committee of the National Sunday League, in which they state that they had found out that these persons had been in the habit of forging those signatures, and that they had eliminated every one of such signatures from the Petition. They further stated that these same persons were taken into the employment of the Working-Men's Lord's Day Observance Society and paid by them for obtaining signatures to their Petitions, although the Secretary of the Sunday League had informed that society of the character of the persons, and why they had dismissed them. He had been requested to make this statement to the House, and it was only fair that he should do so after the grave imputations cast upon the authenticity of the Petitions.
§ MR. HADFIELDwas understood to express his satisfaction at the statement of the hon. Member.
§ Petitions ordered to lie on the Table.