§ Considered in Committee.
§ (In the Committee.)
MR. OSBORNE MORGAN,in moving that the Chairman be directed to move the House, that leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Burial Laws, said, that the Bill was substantially the same measure as that which was before the House three successive Sessions, with one very important alteration. It would be in the recollection of the Committee that one argument advanced against this Bill was that the services authorized might serve as occasions of political demonstrations. In order to obviate that danger, he last year agreed to accept an Amendment of the hon. Member for West Kent (Mr. J. G. Talbot), which provided that the prescribed ritual should consist only of hymns, prayers, and portions of Scripture. That Amendment he had embodied in the present measure, and even if it did not disarm the hostility of the antagonists of the measure, it must cut away from under their feet the principal ground upon which opposition had been at least ostensibly rested.
§ MR. BERESFORD HOPE,whilst thanking the hon. and learned Member for the concession, warned him that he must not take it for granted that the proposition would be accepted as a compromise. This was a Bill that must be opposed.
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Resolved, That the Chairman be directed to move the House, that leave be given to bring in a Bill to amend the Burial Laws.
§ Resolution reported: — Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. OSBORNE DIORGAN, Lord EDMOND FITZMAURICE, Mr. HADFIELD, and M.F. M'ARTHUR.
§ Bill presented, and read the first time. [Bill 9.]