§ MR. CRAUFURD, in moving for leave to bring in a Bill for the further amendment and better consolidation of the Laws relating to the relief of the Poor in Scotland, said: I do not think I need at the present stage enter into any statement with regard to the provisions of this Bill. I think it is desirable that I should postpone that until the second reading, and I will take care to give ample time for their consideration before asking the House to come to any decision. I shall content myself now with simply stating that the Bill will be framed on the basis of the recommendations contained in the Report presented to the House last Session by the Committee on the Scotch Poor Law, over which I had the honour to preside, and which sat for three years to inquire into the subject. The Bill will not go beyond those recommendations, and it is possible that it may not include the whole of them. This matter is one of great importance, and so much did I feel the gravity and importance of the introduction of such a measure that it was my earnest desire that my right hon. and learned Friend the Lord Advocate should undertake the task. I have conferred with him on the subject, and he seems to think that, on the whole, it is better that the matter should be left in the hands of the Chairman of the Committee. I have yielded to his suggestion; but I feel there are grave difficulties in the way. Among the recommendations in the Report there are demands for contributions 319 from public funds on several grounds, and such matters would, I think, have been dealt with better by the Government than by a private Member. Besides, I should have preferred to submit for discussion in the House the recommendations with regard to the incidence of local taxation which were not approved by the majority of the Committee. If I bring in the Bill as Chairman of the Committee, I am bound to represent the Committee only in the recommendations which are submitted for the adoption of Parliament. Feeling this difficulty—feeling that by introducing the Bill myself, I should lose the opportunity of urging on the attention of the House a grave question which was submitted to the Committee upstairs—I should have been glad if the Bill had been brought in by Her Majesty's Government, and I myself had, like other hon. Members, been left free to raise any question that I pleased beyond those included in the recommendations of the Committee. But, on the whole, I feel that the matter is too important for delay, and that many of the recommendations of the Committee are of a very valuable nature, and if adopted would lead to considerable improvement in the law and its administration, and I have, therefore, yielded willingly to the Lord Advocate's wish that I should undertake the task of introducing the Bill. I hope that, as many of the recommendations were passed without any division in Committee, I may look for the support of the Lord Advocate and Her Majesty's Government in carrying forward what is, indeed, no light undertaking.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Bill for the further amendment and better administration of the Laws relating to the relief of the Poor in Scotland, ordered to be brought in by Mr. CRADFURD, Sir ROBERT ANSTHUTHER, and Mr. MILLER.
§ Bill presented, and read the first time. [Bill 35.]