§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That, in the case of the Dover Harbour Bill, Standing Orders 84, 214, 215, and 239 be suspended, and that the Bill be taken into consideration To-morrow, provided amended prints shall have been previously deposited."—(Sir Charles Forster.)
§ GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOURsaid, this Bill dealt with a really most important public measure, though it was put forward as a limited municipal work. It contained proposals of considerable magnitude affecting our national interests. He thought it was too much to ask the House to take it into consideration suddenly at 2 o'clock to-morrow. That could only be done by suspending Rules of the House which appeared to have been framed for preventing hasty legislation for works of the kind now before the House. He urged this objection with great reason, because he had served upon a Committee some years ago to which the question of Dover Harbour had been referred; and he thereby knew that there were most important public interests bound up in the question. He strongly deprecated the loose and uncertain manner in which this subject was now being dealt with; he submitted that the consideration of the Dover Harbour Bill ought to be deferred until such time as the House had had an opportunity of seeing the Amended Bill, and of studying the proposals of the Municipality of Dover.
§ MR. FRESHFIELDsupported the proposal of the hon. Member for Walsall 1959 (Sir Charles Forstor). The hon. and gallant Member for Kincardineshire (Sir George Balfour) was a Member of the Committee which sat upon the Bill of 1875; and he (Mr. Freshfield) was unable to discover that the hon. and gallant Gentleman had any other objection to the scheme than that the Harbour was not large enough. The Harbour it was proposed to construct by the present Bill was of the size originally intended, and the nature of the proposal had been well known for the last 30 years. The hon. and gallant Member seemed to be of opinion that the Harbour, instead of covering an area of 500 or 600 acres, should inclose a space of 25,000 acres.
§ MR. SPEAKERThe Question before the House is simply the suspension of the Standing Orders in reference to this Bill; and upon a Motion of that kind it would not be regular to discuss the merits of the Bill.
§ MR. FRESHFIELDexpressed his regret if he should have unwittingly committed a breach of the Rules of the House. He only intended to say that the Harbour it was now proposed to make was that suggested many years ago, and that the hon. and gallant Gentleman had been upon one Committee which had inquired into it, and reported in its favour. It had been brought forward now under peculiar circumstances, and the suspension of the Standing Orders was necessary in order to enable it to go through its necessary stages at so late a period of the Session. He submitted that the circumstances under which the measure was brought forward justified an exceptional course being taken with regard to it. He had thought he was in Order in making one or two observations in reference to the Bill; but after the direction he had received from the Speaker, he would bring his remarks to a close by simply expressing a hope that the House would not do anything on the present occasion to stop the progress of the Bill. All that was asked was that the Standing Orders of the House should be suspended in order that the Bill might be considered; and seeing that the matter had now been thoroughly threshed out, and that it came forward under such circumstances as to justify the Motion which had been made, he hoped the House would consent to the suspension of the Standing Orders.
§ Question put, and agreed to.