§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ MR. GREGORY (Sussex, East Grinstead)said, that although the hon. Member who was in charge of this Bill was not in attendance to move its second reading, he (Mr. Gregory) wished to protest against the inconvenience to which the House was subjected in such a case as this, where not only the hon. Member in charge of it was not in attendance to move the second reading of the Bill, but had not even taken the trouble to have his project printed.
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, he must inform the hon. Gentleman that the second reading of the Bill had been postponed for a fortnight to enable it to be printed.
§ MR. GREGORYsaid, he should move that the Order for the second reading of the Bill be discharged.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Order for Second Reading be discharged."—(Mr. Gregory.)
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, that such a Motion was unusual in the absence of the hon. Member having charge of the Bill.
§ LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILL (Paddington, S.)said, he thought that this was a case in which the House ought to take the course, unusual though it might be, of marking its sense of the equally unusual course that had been adopted by the hon. Member. The hon. Member, in the small hours of the morning, had obtained permission to introduce the Bill; and in such a crude state were the ideas of the hon. Member, that he had not even yet taken the trouble to embody them in a printed Bill. It was scarcely respectful to the House that they should be asked to assent to the principle of a Bill which had not yet been even drafted.
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, that the Motion of the hon. Member (Mr. Gregory) would be contrary to the practice of the House; otherwise, an hon. Member, who had really good ground for postponing his Bill, might come down and find that the Order of the Day relating to it had been read and discharged.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. CHILDERS) (Edinburgh, S.)said, he would remind the noble Lord that the House had already that afternoon had before them one or two Bills which had not been printed, and which had been postponed in consequence, and he would suggest that the same course should be taken in this case. He had never heard of the Order of the Day for the Second Reading of a measure being read and discharged before the Bill had been printed. He was quite sure that in the present case the hon. Member for Stafford intended to proceed with the measure.
§ MR. GREGORYsaid, he was quite satisfied with having drawn the attention of the House to the subject, and he would therefore withdraw his Motion.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Second Reading deferred till Wednesday 7th April.