*THE DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN (Mr. JEFFREYS (Hampshire, N.)said the Chairman of Ways and Means, who was unable to be present himself owing to illness, had requested him to move this Motion. He had also asked him to explain that his right hon. friend only put down the Motion because he understood that the Standing Orders Committee agreed to it, but if they did not agree to it he was not to force it through. Both the promoters and the opponents to the Bill were of opinion that if it were referred back to the Committee it would save discussion in the House, and his right hon. friend the Chairman of Committees understood that the Committee on Standing Orders agreed to have it refered back to them because the petition not being put in to time was due to an error. In former days petitions against a Bill had to be put in within ten days after the First Reading, but it was decided to alter the Standing Order so that now all petitions must be put in by February 12th. It appeared that the Parliamentary agents had obtained a 722 copy of the old Standing Orders, and it was due to that that the error had occurred. He begged to move.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Resolution of the Select Committee on Standing Orders of 14th March in the case of the Petition of the Portadown Urban District Council praying to be heard against the said Bill be referred back to the Select Committee on Standing Orders with a view to consider whether, under the circumstances of the case, Standing Order 128 should be dispensed with in respect of the said Petition."—(The Deputy-Chairman.)
§ *MR. JOHN ELLIS (Nottinghamshire, Rushcliffe)said this was an exceptional Motion. It did not instruct the Committee on Standing Orders to do anything but to re-consider a decision they had already arrived at. He thought the language of the right hon. Gentleman was exaggerated. So far as he knew, the Committee on Standing Orders had expressed no wish to have this referred back to them. He objected to the Motion on the previous Friday, because it was made on a Friday—that was the extent of his objection. He did not feel warranted in opposing it now that the Chairman of Ways and Means had, on his own responsibility and after due consideration, put the Motion on the Paper, but he wished strongly to emphasise its exceptional nature.
§ MR. HALSEY (Hertfordshire, Watford)said the right hon. Gentleman the Deputy-Chairman was a little misinformed when he said he understood the Standing Orders Committee wished this back; that was too strong a term. It was a most unusual course for the House to refer back to the Committee a matter upon which they had come to a decision and reported. But he did not intend to offer any opposition to the Motion.
§ MR. BUCHANAN (Perthshire, E.)said so far as he knew there had not been any consultation with the Committee on Standing Orders as to the propriety of this proposal. The Standing Orders Committee had nothing to do with 723 the merits of the Bill. They had merely to say whether the Standing Order should be dispensed with. This was a some-what important matter for the House of Commons. The question was whether they were going to remit back to the Standing Orders Committee a question which they had already determined for their reconsideration. It was an unusual Motion, but not an unprecedented one. In former years cases had been remitted to the Standing Orders Committee, but in all the precedents for a Motion of this
§ kind the Chairman of Committees had been able to say there were certain new facts which had not come to the knowledge of the Standing Orders Committee. As a member of the Committee he sincerely hoped the House would not assent to this Motion unless some really fresh facts were going to be adduced.
§ Question put.
§ The House divided:—Ayes, 104; Noes, 93. (Division List No. 104.)
725| AYES. | ||
| Acland-Hood, Capt. Sir A. F. | Flower, Sir Ernest | Morrison, James Archibald |
| Anson, Sir William Reynell | Forster, Henry William | Palmer, Sir Walter (Salisbury) |
| Arkwright, John Stanhope | Gardner, Ernest | Parker, Sir Gilbert |
| Arnold-Forster, Rt. Hn. H. O | Godson, Sir Augustus Freder'k | Pease, Herbert Pike (Darlington |
| Atkinson, Rt. Hon. John | Gordon, Hn. J. E. (Elgin & Nairn) | Pilkington, Colonel Richard |
| Bagot, Capt. Josceline Fitzroy | Gordon, J. (Londonderry, S.) | Plummer, Sir Walter R. |
| Balcarres, Lord | Gordon, Maj. Evans (T'rH'ml'ts | Pryce-Jones, Lt.-Col. Edward |
| Balfour, Rt Hn. Gerald W. (Leeds | Gore, Hon. S. F. Ormsby- | Purvis, Robert |
| Banbury, Sir Fred'k George | Goulding, Edward Alfred | Randles, John S. |
| Banner, John S. Harmood- | Gretton, John | Rasch, Sir Frederic Carne |
| Bignold, Sir Arthur | Groves, James Grimble | Reid, James (Greenock) |
| Bigwood, James | Hamilton, Marq. of (Lond'nd'ry | Robertson, Herbert (Hackney) |
| Blundell, Colonel Henry | Heath, Sir James (Staff'ds. N. W | Rollit, Sir Albert Kaye |
| Bond, Edward | Helder, Augustus | Ropner, Colonel Sir Robert |
| Boscawen, Arthur Griffith | Hickman, Sir Alfred | Sadler, Col. Samuel Alexander |
| Bull, William James | Hoare, Sir Samuel | Sharpe, William Edward T. |
| Caldwell, James | Hogg, Lindsay | Sloan, Thomas Henry |
| Campbell, J H M (Dublin Univ. | Houston, Robert Paterson | Smith, Rt. Hn J. Parker (Lanarks |
| Carson, Rt. Hn. Sir Edw. H. | Howard, John (Kent, Favers'm | Spear, John Ward |
| Cavendish, V. C. W. (Derbyshire | Hozier, Hn. James Henry Cecil | Stanley, Hn. Arthur (Ormskirk) |
| Chapman, Edward | Hudson, George Bickersteth | Thorburn, Sir Walter |
| Cochrane, Hon. Thos. H. A. E. | Jeffreys, Rt. Hn. Arthur Fred | Tomlinson, Sir Wm. Edw. M. |
| Collings, Rt. Hon. Jesse | Kenyon-Slaney, Rt. Hn. Col. W. | Tuff, Charles |
| Colston, Chas. Edw. H. Athole | Kerr, John | Turnour, Viscount |
| Corbett, T. L. (Down, North) | Law Andrew Bonar (Glasgow) | Valentia, Viscount |
| Crossley, Rt. Hon. Sir Savile | Lawrence, Wm. F. (Liverpool) | Walrond, Rt. Hn. Sir Wm. H. |
| Davenport, William Bromley | Lee, A. H. (Hants., Fareham) | Warde, Colonel C. E. |
| Denny, Colonel | Long, Rt. Hn. Walter (Bristol, S) | Welby, Lt.-Col. A.C.E. (T'n't'n |
| Dewar, Sir T. R. (T'r Hamlets) | Macdona, John Cumming | Wentworth, Bruce C. Vernon |
| Dickson, Charles Scott | MacIver, David (Liverpool) | Willoughby de Eresby, Lord |
| Douglas, Rt. Hon. A. Akers- | Maconochie, A. W. | Wilson, John (Glasgow) |
| Doxford, Sir William Theodore | M'Iver, Sir Lewis (Edinb'r'h,W | Wrightson, Sir Thomas |
| Fardell, Sir T. George | Majendie, James A. H. | |
| Fellowes, Hn. Ailwyn Edward | Maxwell, W. J. H. (Dumfriessh're | TELLERS FOR THE AYES—Mr. |
| Finch, Rt. Hon. George H. | Milvain, Thomas | Charles Craig and Mr. Lons- |
| Finlay, Sir R. B. (Inv'n'ss B'ghs) | Moore, William | dale. |
| NOES. | ||
| Abraham, William (Cork, N. E. | Campbell, John (Armagh, S.) | Findlay, Alexander (Lanark, N E |
| Abraham, William (Rhondda) | Cawley, Frederick | Flynn, James Christopher |
| Barry, E. (Cork, S.) | Cheetham, John Frederick | Foster, Sir Walter (Derby Co.) |
| Bell, Richard | Condon, Thomas Joseph | Gilhooly, James |
| Black, Alexander William | Craig, Robert Hunter (Lanark) | Haldane, Rt. Hon. Richard B. |
| Blake, Edward | Crean, Eugene | Hardie, J. Keir (Merthyr T'vil) |
| Boland, John | Cullinan, J. | Hayden, John Patrick |
| Brigg, John | Delany, William | Hemphill, Rt. Hon. Charles H. |
| Bright, Allan Heywood | Devlin, Joseph (Kilkenny, N.) | Henderson, Arthur (Durham) |
| Broadhurst, Henry | Donelan, Captain A. | Higham, John Sharp |
| Buchanan, Thomas Ryburn | Doogan, P. C. | Horniman, Frederick John |
| Burt, Thomas | Fenwick, Charles | Jacoby, James Alfred |
| Cameron, Robert | Ffrench, Peter | Johnson, John |
| Jones, Leif (Appleby) | Nolan, Joseph (Louth, South | Roche, John |
| Jones, William (Carnarvonshire | O'Brien, Kendal (Tipperary Mid | Samuel, Herbert L. (Cleveland) |
| Joyce, Michael | O'Brien, Patrick (Kilkenny) | Shaw, Thomas (Hawick B.) |
| Kilbride, Denis | O'Brien, P. J. (Tipperary, N.) | Sheehy, David |
| Lamont, Norman | O'Connor, James (Wicklow, W. | Shipman, Dr. John G. |
| Law, Hugh Alex. (Donegal, W. | O'Donnell, John (Mayo, S.) | Spencer, Rt. Hn. C R. (Northants |
| Lawson, Sir Wilfrid (Cornwall) | O'Donnell, T. (Kerry, W.) | Strachey, Sir Edward |
| Layland-Barratt, Francis | O'Dowd, John | Sullivan, Donal |
| Leese, Sir Joseph F. (Ac'r'gton | O'Kelly, Conor (Mayo, N.) | Taylor, Theodore C. (Radcliffe) |
| Levy, Maurice | O'Malley, William | Thomas, Sir A. (Glamorgan, E.) |
| Lloyd-George, David | O'Shaughnessy, P. J. | Warner, Thomas Courtenay T. |
| Lundon, W. | O'Shee, James John | Wason, John Cathcart (Orkney |
| MacNeill, John Gordon Swift | Paulton, James Mellor | Whiteley, George (York, W. R.) |
| MacVeagh, Jeremiah | Power, Patrick Joseph | Whittaker, Thomas Palmer |
| M'Crae, George | Rea, Russell | Wilson, John (Durham, Mid.) |
| M'Kean, John | Reddy, M. | |
| M'Killop W. (Sligo, North) | Redmond, John E. (Waterford | TELLERS FOR THE NOES—Mr. |
| Mooney, John J. | Reid, Sir R. Threshie (Dumfries | Fuller and Mr. J. H. Whitley. |
| Murphy, John | Richards, Thomas (W. Monm'th |