POLICE SANITARY REGULATION BILLS. (Hansard, 8 May 1900)

§ * MR. HALSEY (Hertfordshire, Watford)
I do not think that this motion ought to pass without a few words. I do not propose to oppose it, because I understand that the work of this Police and Sanitary Committee has arrived at such a state during the present session that unless some motion of this sort is adopted matters will come to a deadlock, and it will cause great inconvenience to the promoters concerned. What I wish to point out is that I hope the House will clearly understand that this motion is merely an emergency proposal for the present session, and will not interfere with the future arrangement of business connected with this Committee. I have always understood that the object of the appointment of this Committee was to ensure uniformity of decision on matters connected with proposals in Private Bills affecting the general law of the country. By dividing this Committee into two you run the risk of doing away with that very uniformity which this Committee was established to promote. I also wish to say on behalf of the Committee of Selection, that the work of this Committee—as we see from the fact that it has brought about this motion—is extremely arduous, but at the same time it is work which it is absolutely necessary should be entrusted to the very best and strongest Members of the House. Unfortunately, the Committee has found that there is increased difficulty every year in finding efficient Members of the House to serve on this Committee. Service on this Committee is not compulsory, and therefore no Member can be bound to serve without his own consent, and it has become increasingly difficult to find hon. Gentlemen of the requisite capacity who are willing to serve on this Committee. My reason for rising is to express the hope that the whole question of the business of this Committee and how these Bills are to be dealt with in the future shall be fully considered by Her Majesty's Government and the authorities of the House another session. I feel convinced that sooner or later this question will have to be taken into consideration, and although I offer no opposition in the present state of the business of the House this session, I do earnestly entreat the House to consider before 1057 another session commences whether some other means cannot be devised of dealing with those Police and Sanitary Clauses, so as to ensure the unanimity which is undoubtedly so desirable in these Bills, but at the same time without causing such an intolerable strain upon hon. Members as the present system does.

§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE (Wiltshire, Cricklade)
I wish to be allowed to say a very few words upon this motion. It has been put upon the Paper not only with full assent of the Committee over which I preside, but I must say also at their request. The position of the work of this Committee is quite extraordinary. It seems to be a very popular Committee, and we have got no less than twenty-one of the heaviest Private Bills before that Committee. We have to get those measures up to the House of Lords by the date fixed under the Sessional Order. Under these circumstances, I thought it my duty to communicate with the Chairman of Committees of this House. We went into the matter together, with the assistance of the House officials, and I am not in the least exaggerating when I tell the House that if the single Committee on these Bills sat every day in the week we should be here in the middle of August. We were not prepared to sit continuously until the middle of August, and that is the reason why this motion was placed upon the Table by the responsible Minister. I entirely concur with what has fallen from my hon. friend the Chairman of the Committee of Selection. It will be absolutely necessary for the Government to consider the whole question of this Committee, and what has been said in the case of the Bradford Bill is a good illustration. The result of the Standing Order of the House is that every Bill which contains the very smallest proposal in that direction comes to this Committee, and we have to deal with the whole Bill. The result is that large corporations place all these matters in one large Bill and this unfortunate Committee has to deal with them all.

§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. JESSE COLLINGS, Birmingham, Bordesley)
No less than twenty Bills have been sent to this Committee, and therefore the work cannot be got through. A similar motion 1058 to this was made in 1892, when a similar state of things existed, and the motion then passed. We fully recognise all the objections which my hon. friend has made, for it is absolutely necessary, in my opinion, that the whole composition of this Committee shall be considered another session with a view of unloading the Committee of such work, or making such other alterations as will make the work lighter. That is not possible this session, and this is but an emergency motion which is quite necessary.

* SIR U. KAY-SHUTTLEWORTH (Lancashire, Clitheroe)
Would it not be possible to devise a plan whereby at the commencement of each session the authorities of the House should eliminate from all Private Bills the Police and Sanitary Clauses? Those only might be submitted to the Committee, leaving the remaining portions of the Bills to be dealt with by Select Committees in the ordinary way.

§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE
Might I suggest to my right hon. friend that he should nominate three members instead of two, because one member of the Committee is very unwell, and I understand that he will not be able to attend for some time.

§ * MR. SPEAKER
Order, order! That would be in the nature of opposition, and would involve postponement of the motion i until to-morrow.