CONVENTUAL AND MONASTIC INSTI- TUTIONS.—COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 23 May 1870)

§ MR. NEWDEGATE
said, he rose to move that the Select Committee on the Conventual and Monastic Institutions should consist of 16 Members, and that the Lord Advocate should be added to the Committee; and he explained that there were already on the Committee four Irish Roman Catholic Members, of whom two were lawyers, and only one Scotch Member, who was not a lawyer; that the Committee would have to inquire into the law of Scotland, which was different from the law of England, inasmuch as he believed that there was no mortmain in Scotland, and that it was, therefore, desirable to have a Scotch lawyer on the Committee. It was acknowledged that Ireland was largely represented on the Committee, considering that the inquiry had no relation to that country; but it had been urged that this course was necessary in order to obtain a fairer representation of Roman Catholic interests than could be obtained if the Members were entirely confined to England and Scotland. Desiring, as he did, that Scotland should be represented on the Committee by more than one Member, and that the Committee might have the advantage of the legal knowledge which the Lord Advocate possessed, he begged to move that the name of the right hon. Gentleman be added to the Committee.

§ THE LORD ADVOCATE
said, in expressing a hope that the House would permit him to decline the appointment, he trusted that the hon. Member for North Warwickshire would not believe him to be insensible to the honour which it was intended to confer upon him—an honour which, from press of other engagements, he was compelled to decline. The Committee would, he thought, find no difficulty in respect to the law of Scotland, which was very simple in its character as far as the inquiry was concerned, and if he could be of any service to the Committee he should be glad to give every assistance in his power short of becoming a Member.

§ MR. NEWDEGATE
said, that as the Government did not propose the appointment of anyone else, he should divide the House upon his proposition that the Committee do consist of 16 Members.