HC Deb 11 May 1899 vol 71 cc426-7

Motion made, and Question proposed— That Clause I, as amended, stand part of the Bill.

MR. SAMUEL EVANS (Glamorgan, Mid)

objected to the Bill on the ground that it would tend to weaken the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal was at present presided over by three judges, and without any good reason the Government were proposing to make it possible for two judges to act instead of three. There was already a provision in the Judicature Act which enabled the Lord Chancellor, upon an emergency, to send one of the most eminent judges of the Queen's Bench or the Chancery Division to the Court of Appeal. This provision would cover any emergency. The Bill was in his opinion a very mischievous one, and one for which no ease had been made out.

DR. CLARK (Caithness)

said it was imagined that Conservative Governments always conserved, but the present Unionist Government was of a most revolutionary character. He moved to report Progress.

Committee report Progress; to sit again To-morrow.