§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that it was an attempt to settle, with the co-operation of the Thames Conservancy, a contention of long standing between the Commissioners of Woods and the pier proprietors on the river. At present, the pier proprietors were under an obligation to pay annually to the Woods and Forests an amount considerably in excess of the tolls. It was not desirable that such a state of things should be allowed to continue; and, therefore, the Woods and Forests proposed to commute their claim into an annual payment of £10 per annum for each pier, thus keeping up their right. Legislative sanction for the arrangement was required in order to give it effect, and that was the object of the Bill, of which he now had the honour to move the second reading, to provide.
§ Motion made, and Question, "That the Bill be now read a second time,"—(Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson,)—put, and agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for Monday next.