SECOND READING. (Hansard, 4 July 1883)

§ SIR HUSSEY VIVIAN
said, that, before the Bill was read a second time, he wished to ask his hon. Friend the Secretary to the Board of Trade (Mr. J. Holms) what the intention of the Board of Trade was in regard to this and other Bills which involved the establishment of the principle of electric lighting? Ha understood that there was considerable opposition to the present Bill, and that 316 Petitions had been lodged against it. If that were so, and he believed he was correctly informed in the matter, the Bill would appear to come under the 2nd and 3rd sub-sections of the 4th clause of the Electric Lighting Act of last year; and he would, therefore, ask his hon. Friend if it was the intention of the Board of Trade, under those circumstances, to move that the Bill be referred to a Hybrid Committee?

§ MR. J. HOLMS
said, that, in reply to the hon. Baronet the Member for Glamorganshire, he had to state that this was a somewhat novel undertaking, and that it was one of the first Provisional Order Bills which had come before the House since the passing of the Electric Lighting Act which proposed to remit them to the consideration of the House of Commons. It was therefore, perhaps, desirable that the matter should be more fully considered than would probably be necessary under ordinary circumstances. In a matter of this kind it was of great importance that the regulations should at the beginning be completely brought under the cognizance of the House. Therefore, in the nomination of the Committee to inquire into the merits of the Bill, the Government would be open to consider any suggestion to refer the measure to a Hybrid Committee.

§ MR. E. STANHOPE
only desired to make one remark upon what had fallen from the hon. Gentleman the Secretary to the Board of Trade. If this particular Bill contained principles of novelty and importance, the nature of the Committee to which it was to be sent was well worth consideration; but it would be of no use to call upon any Select Committee to consider the Bill unless there was somebody appointed to bring before such Committee any substantial points of objection. If the Bill were not opposed at all, it appeared to him that it would be absolutely useless to send it to a Select Committee.

§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL
said, he had ascertained at the Vote Office that there were at the present moment a number of Electric Lighting Bills before the House involving all sorts of complications; and, if they were going to make a new departure on the subject, it was most undesirable that Bills of this kind should be run through the House without being thoroughly examined by a competent Committee, and 317 that every provision should be carefully scrutinized before it was passed. It seemed to him that these Bills, to a certain extent, sinned against the principle which he certainly should have thought the President of the Board of Trade and Member for Birmingham would have insisted upon—namely, the principle of local authority and local self government. If the principle of local self government was worth anything at all it ought to apply to a matter of this kind, which was purely a matter for local government. He thought it was the duty of Parliament to exercise great care before it thrust a speculative Company upon the local authorities with power to provide electric lighting and to tear up the streets without the consent of such local authorities. In the Strand district, which was affected by the present Bill, he understood that the local authority was strongly opposed to the provisions of the Bill, and it was most undesirable that an opposed Bill of this kind should be run through the House without a thorough and competent examination.

§ MR. STEVENSON
said, that these Bills, although unopposed, had undergone a careful examination before their provisions had come before the House; and it was no part of the functions of the House to facilitate an opposition to unopposed Bills. It was quite true that the Electric Lighting Act of last year was passed without exciting much attention at the hands of the House; but the Act was the result of an able Committee that gave a long time to its consideration last year. Under that Act these Electric Lighting Provisional Orders had been prepared, and every person interested in the matter had an opportunity of being fully heard before the Board of Trade, and bringing forward any objection. It was not desirable, he thought, to afford an opportunity for opposition now, where hitherto there had been no opposition. An unopposed Bill must necessarily go before some Committee, in order that the clauses contained in it might be settled; but it was a very different thing to give facilities for opposition, when no opposition had been offered at the right time.

§ THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (Sir ARTHUR OTWAY)
said, he could not help thinking that the course proposed 318 by the Secretary to the Board of Trade was one which would best commend itself to the House, because it afforded an opportunity to the House, if it were so minded, of referring the Bill to a Hybrid Committee, instead of the ordinary Select Committee. His hon. Friend had not prescribed any particular course, but said he would afford an opportunity to the House, on a future occasion, of expressing and giving effect to its opinion on the matter. For his own part, he (Sir Arthur Otway) was rather inclined, seeing the importance of the interests involved in the matter, to support the appointment of a Hybrid Committee; but he was perfectly open to be convinced by the arguments which might be used on the other side. In regard to unopposed Bills, the operation which took place was of a different character from that which was generally supposed. Unopposed Bills often required a very careful examination, and a great deal of responsibility was thrown on those to whom the duty of examining them was intrusted. He must say, speaking for himself, that he considered an unopposed Electric Lighting Bill just the Bill that should be examined as carefully by the Committee before whom it was sent as an unopposed Bill. He advised the House to concur in the course recommended by the Secretary to the Board of Trade, and to reserve its decision as to the tribunal before whom the Bill should go when the nomination of the Committee was proposed. It would then be for the House to determine whether they would refer the whole of these Bills to a Hybrid Committee or to an ordinary Select Committee.