SECOND READING. (Hansard, 4 June 1880)

§ MR. WHITWELL
, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, 1283 said, its object was to consolidate the law on the subject of partnership, an improvement which had long been anxiously desired by gentlemen connected with the commercial interests. The Bill had been before the House on a previous occasion, when it was introduced by his friend, Mr. Sampson Lloyd, who was no longer a Member of the House, and it was then read a second time. The Bill on that occasion was backed by the present hon. and learned Solicitor General (Sir Farrer Herschell). He trusted the House would now consent to the second reading, as he should not ask for its committal for some days, in order that proper time might be given for consideration of its provisions and details. In addition to consolidating the present law, the Bill proposed to introduce a limited form of partnership based on the law in Germany, America, and Trance. That, he was aware, was a novelty; but he should be quite prepared to defend it presently in all its details. Another part of the Bill proposed the registration of firms; and that portion, when before the House on a previous occasion, met with almost unanimous support.

MR. BARING
said, he was not at all prepared to object to the second reading of the Bill; but still it was only fair that he should give the hon. Gentleman (Mr. Whitwell) notice that in Committee he should object to the compulsory registration of the name of every member of every firm. On the other hand, he should be very glad to see the system of commandite made law in this country.

§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir HENRY JAMES)
said, there were so many valuable suggestions and provisions in the measure that, whether the whole ought to become law or not, the House would certainly, he thought, wish that the measure should be brought to the notice of, and be discussed by, the mercantile community. Some of the proposals in the Bill would have to be discussed with great care; but still he thought its valuable provisions entitled it to be read a second time, with full acknowledgment of the right claimed by 1284 the hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Baring) to discuss it in Committee.