§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ Motion made and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."
MR. PARKER SMITH (Lanarkshire, Partick)The Patriotic Fund, I think, has gone in too much of late years for accumulating funds. These funds, which were subscribed for a particular purpose, ought not to be saved, but expended upon the people for whom they were intended. It is a step in the right direction to extend the object of the fund from widows and orphans to other dependents, but there is another step which ought to be included in any extension, and that is making the fund applicable to the men themselves who served in these campaigns. If we are compelled to look beyond the original objects of the fund I think these men should be first to come in for consideration, and I would urge this view upon the Government.
§ MR. WYNDHAMIt would be quite impossible to amend the Bill in the direction suggested by the hon. Member. I can only say that the Bill as it stands embodies the unanimous wish of those who have worked upon the subject.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed for Monday next.