GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS (TRANSFER OF POWERS) PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL. (Hansard, 25 June 1889)

§ MR. STEPHENS (Middlesex, Hornsey)
I would ask the Secretary to the Local Government Board whether the date for the Bill to come into operation should not be deferred? The powers proposed to be transferred to the County Councils are very large indeed, and certainly require special machinery. I have been requested by the County Council of Middlesex to make this suggestion. 691 They are not at all afraid of taking over the powers transferred to them under the Bill; but at present they have no machinery which would enable them to discharge the duties which would devolve upon them, duties which have hitherto been discharged by the Board of Trade in reference to gas, water, and tramway powers. It is obvious that a great deal of inquiry must be made before consent can be given in regard to matters affecting capital and many other technical questions of the highest importance. At present they feel that they are not in a position to discharge these duties properly. I think that my request is a reasonable one, and I beg to add that the feeling of the Parliamentary Committee of the Middlesex County Council is quite unanimous upon the matter.

§ MR. LONG
I have no objection to the proposal of my hon. Friend; but this is not the time when any alteration in the provisions of the Bill can be made. It will have to be made by the Committee before whom the Bill will have to go. So far as the Government are concerned, they are prepared to alter the date from the 1st of September until the 1st of April.

§ MR. JAMES STUART (Shoreditch, Hoxton)
I have to move— That the Order for Committee be read and discharged. That the Bill be committed to a Select Committee of Seven Members, Four to be nominated by the House, and Three by the Committee of Selection. That the Committee have power to send for persons, papers, and records. That three be the quorum. The object of my Motion is to refer the Bill to a Hybrid Committee. The Bill affects a borough with which I am concerned—the borough of Cambridge. The Provisional Order, No. 15, of the Local Government Board refers to the boroughs of Banbury and Cambridge. The Bill itself is an excellent and an exceedingly useful Bill. The 52nd clause of the Local Government Act of 1888 provides for the re-constitution of the Governing Body of the town of Cambridge, and for the introduction into that body of members representing the University. The fact is that the Colleges of the University are now treated as a ward in the borough. The provisions of the Bill, as far as they go, meet with general approval, both in the town and 692 at the University. I do not, therefore, oppose the Bill; but I desire to lay before the House some reasons for inducing it to extend, somewhat, the provisions about to be adopted. For some time there has existed in Cambridge a considerable and growing inequality in the ward representation, and this appears to me to be a suitable opportunity for altering that inequality. Two of the wards contain a population estimated at 21,187, and a rateable value of £88,180.

§ * MR. SPEAKER
If the Motion is opposed, it must, according to the usual rule, stand over.

§ MR. JAMES STUART
Then I would-move that it stand over until to-morrow.

§ * MR. SPEAKER
I was not aware until this moment that the Motion of the hon. Member was an opposed Motion.

§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. George's
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman will persist in making the Motion. I think it is possible that I may make an explanation which will render such a course unnecessary.

§ MR. JAMES STUART
The Bill had better stand over.