§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ MR. HALDANE (Haddington)repeated what he said on a previous night, that if the House would allow the Bill to go through its second reading, so far as he was concerned the "Mineral" Clauses should be omitted in Committee. He believed there was general assent to the principle of the Bill.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER) (Isle of Wight)said, 1368 he was very sorry that he could not consent to the Bill being taken now. Speaking personally, he did not think there would be any great objection to the Bill with the "Mineral Clauses" taken out. He had, however, received representations from both sides of the House that the Bill could not be allowed to pass without a second reading discussion.
§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Longford, N.)said, he was surprised that the hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General should object to a Bill dealing with land, after it bad received the assent of Lord Salisbury and passed through the ordeal of the House of Lords.
§ SIR RICHARD WEBSTERsaid, the hon. and learned Member had misunderstood the position. The Bill was not a Government Bill and it required careful consideration. He was far from saying that the Bill should not be allowed to pass in some shape; but it was not a Bill that could be read without some discussion. Exception was taken to some of the clauses, and it would not be fair to Members from whom he had received representations that the second reading should not now be taken.
§ Second Reading deferred till Monday next.