§ SECOND READING.
§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ DR. FARQUHARSON (Aberdeenshire, W.)I beg to move that the Order be discharged and the Bill withdrawn. In consequence of the legislative activity of the Government supporters and the persistent opposition with which this Bill is met, I have been obliged with great regret to take this course. I express sincere regret that, in the interests of the landlord class—to which I myself belong—and in the interest of what I call really a legitimate sport, it has not been found possible to legislate in some way to meet the wants and wishes of a large section of the people of Scotland. The course I am obliged to take will not, I am sure, do us who represent the northern constituencies any harm, because when we talk to our people we should have to lay before them what I may call a very interesting drama. The first act was the Motion of my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen (Mr. Bryce) and the apparent acceptance of it by the Government in order to avoid an inconvenient Division. Act No. 2 was the introduction of this Bill which I am now obliged to withdraw; and act No. 3 was the Bill introduced by the Lord Advocate, which everybody 1383 who understood the subject must have seen really made matters a great deal worse than before by supporting a close time for tourists and the bye-law preventing people doing what they are now permitted to do unless prohibited by interested parties. That Bill was eventually withdrawn because, bad as we thought it, it was even too much for the squeamish stomachs of hon. Members opposite, and with this act I will let down the curtain.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Order be discharged, and the Bill withdrawn."—(Dr. Farquharson.)
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Order discharged.
§ Bill withdrawn.