§ MR. FIRTHasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is his intention to proceed with the Charitable Trusts Bill during the present Session; whether he is aware that, when the Bill was before the House of Lords, there were many petitions presented against it from corporate bodies throughout the Country, such petitions having been procured through the agency of the Corporation of London; and, whether, in view of similar proceedings being repeated, he can state whether there is any statutory or other authority justifying the expenditure of municipal funds in promoting through the Country an agitation against Bills in Parliament?
§ MR. PULESTONasked whether the suggestions reflecting on the Corporation in question were in Order?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, he was very anxious, of course, to proceed with the Charitable Trusts Bill. He should have thought that measure was one which would not have met with serious opposition, and any which had arisen was, he imagined, due to an entire misapprehension of the scope of the Bill, which was only to remove some obstacles to the action of the Commissioners. He had no official knowledge of the course which the Corporation had taken in this matter; but one of the objects of the Bill being to deal with the evils of the parochial charities, he should think the Corporation of London would be exceedingly ill-advised if they were to make themselves the champions of a maladministration of public funds.