[BILL 373.] SECOND READING. (Hansard, 16 August 1887)

§ MR. HALDANE (Haddington)
I will not occupy more than a minute. I would only remark that you are making an extraordinary change without much attention being paid to it. This Bill repeals a good deal of old learning in regard to escheats perfectly properly; 826 but with it there is this extraordinary change—that this House is asked to delegate its functions to the Lord Chancellor and leave him to make rules——

§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER) (Isle of Wight)
Allow me to explain that if the hon. Member had only taken the trouble to communicate with me, I would have told him that I propose to insert in the Bill a simple Code re-enacting all that is necessary.

§ MR. SEXTON (Belfast, W.)
The House has to proceed with Business again at 12 to-day, and it is now too late to go on with this or any other Business. We have shown good faith to our engagements; but I must now move that the debate be adjourned.

§ SIR RICHARD WEBSTER
I would appeal to the hon. Member to allow the second reading of this Bill to be taken. There need be no debate upon it; it is merely a technical matter, as the Bill proposes to remove some old Statutes cumbering the Statute Book and simplify the procedure.

§ MR. EDWARD HARRINGTON (Kerry, W.)
I know nothing of the Bill itself; but the title is curious and unpleasantly suggestive. But I think we ought, now that it is getting towards 4 o'clock, to have done with Business. I do not want to occupy time beyond this simple protest. The Attorney General looks annoyed; but I think we have more reason to feel annoyance.

§ MR. HALDANE
If I may be allowed to make one observation. What the Attorney General has told us, and what, of course, it was not possible for us to divine, that a short Code will be introduced, removes my objection, and I think that of everybody else. I hope the hon. Member will withdraw his Motion.

§ MR. SEXTON
My objection is on entirely different grounds to that of the hon. Member; it is on account of the time, and I shall move an adjournment on this and every other Order.

§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)
I beg to move that this House do now adjourn. The conduct of Business in this fashion is a public scandal. We have been here now for 12 hours, and a good many of us were here until this hour yesterday morning. We have to be in our places to consider a difficult and technical measure at 12 o'clock to-day, and it is impossible to discharge our duties unless we get sonic amount of vest. There are also the officials of the House to consider, and loud complaints are made of the strain, bodily and mental, to which they are subjected. Hero we have a long list of Orders on the Paper many of which we never heard of before, and which are now thrown at our heads by the other House. We know in former times, when Bills have been sent up from this House to the other House rather late in the Session, they have been bundled out-of-doors without ceremony, and I think we have a right to take our stand upon public convenience. We have a number of Hills which are put before us as Consolidation Bills—for instance, the Sheriffs Consolidation Bill—which, nevertheless, do propose considerable changes in the law. I am not going to refer to the Bill, mentioning it only as an illustration. It is a public scandal, I say, to conduct Business in this way; and I will do what I can to stop it. There are less than 100 Members present, and it is absurd for a sixth of the House to I attempt to legislate in this manner; and the only way to check it is to take a firm and decided stand against it, and if I have to stay here until this time tomorrow I will do it.

§ SIR RICHARD WEBSTER
If there is any chance of the country reading the ton. Member's speech, I should be content to leave the country to form its own opinion of the hon. Member's motives.

§ MR. CONYBEARE
I am ready to report it out-of-doors.

§ SIR RICHARD WEBSTER
Of course, I am not going to put Members to the trouble of going through repeated Divisions. Only this I will say—that there is no reason whatever why this Bill should not pass through the House. Still, if the hon. Member will allow his 828 Motion to be negatived, I will not put the House to further trouble by attempting to force the measure.

§ MR. SEXTON
After the explanation of the hon. and learned Gentleman I would suggest to my hon. Friend (Mr. Conybeare) that he should withdraw his Motion, and that we should allow this stage of the Bill to be taken, on the understanding that no other Business is proceeded with.

§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)
I hope the hon. Member would not include those mere questions of Report of formal Resolutions. There were certain Resolutions passed in Committee last night which have to be agreed to by the House; but the whole will not occupy five minutes. I hope the hon. Member will agree to take these.

§ MR. CONYBEARE
If the Business will only occupy five minutes, what is the objection to take it after a quarter to 6 to-morrow?

§ MR. JACKSON
If the hon. Member will promise that they will not thon be objected to; but I am afraid he is not in a position to do that.

§ MR. CONYBEARE
I will not oppose them.

§ MR. BIGGAR (Cavan, W.)
The Government owe an apology to hon. Members for this scandalous way of proceeding with Business. There is an important Bill in charge of the Postmaster General which was torn to pieces in its progress through Committee just now without the slightest explanation, and I do not believe there are three Members here who have the slightest idea of the changes made. That is all very well, of course, from the Government view of conducting the Business of the country; but I think the country itself holds a very different opinion. It is only right the people should have some slight idea of what is going on. For my own part, I will undertake that I will not oppose the taking of the Resolutions referred to at the close of the Morning Sitting at a quarter to 6. But no stage of other Business ought now to be taken.