UNIVERSITY OF WALES (GRADUATES) BILL. (Hansard, 6 June 1902)

MR. BRYNMOR JONES (Swansea, District)

This Bill is one which I do not think will be opposed by any Member of the House. It was not opposed at any preceding stage, and I do not apprehend that any hon. Member will oppose it now. The object of the Bill is to give Welsh graduates the same status and the same privileges as are enjoyed by the graduates of the Oxford, Cambridge, and London Universities, and the more recently constituted Victoria University. There are certain anomalies surrounding the position of Welsh graduates as to their entrance into the legal profession, which ought to be removed. For instance, if a Welsh graduate wishes to be a solicitor, he has to be articled for five years; if a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge wishes to be a solicitor, he only has to be articled for three years. There is no reason for any such inequality, and the object of this Bill is to remove it. I beg to move that the Bill be read a third time.