HC Deb 20 August 1909 vol 9 cc1673-4

Now I turn to the remaining Government Programme. There are, as far as I know, three Bills, and three only, of those with which we intend to proceed that can be described as of a controversial character. There is first and foremost,

Finance Bill,

next

Irish Land Bill,

and, thirdly,

London Elections Bill.

Those Bills we hope to pass through this House. I come next to a series of Bills, none of which can be described as contentious, but which it is essential we should get through—

which is on the Paper to-day, two Naval Bills, which are necessary in order to facilitate the carrying out of the proceedings of the Imperial Conference. which is also on the Paper to-day;

Assistant Postmaster-General Bill,

one of the three Departmental Bills to which I referred, and

The County Councils Mortgages Bill, which I am told is the Bill of the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Opposition Whip (Sir A. Acland-Hood). There are three other Bills which have not yet been introduced, but which we should hope will receive the assent of Parliament, but about which I do not profess to speak in very sanguine terms—

Board of Agriculture (Scotland) Bill, which has been introduced in another place;

The Development Bill,

which my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has promised and will probably introduce next week, and which I believe he regards as of a non-controversial character.

Lord ROBERT CECIL

indicated dissent.

The PRIME MINISTER

The Noble Lord the Member for Marylebone shakes his head, but he has not seen the Bill. Until that Bill has seen the light of day, and has been subjected to the scrutiny of a few days' Parliamentary observation, I hesitate to pronounce a definite judgment on its character or reception. The third Bill in the same category is

The Police Bill.

That is a Bill which I believe everybody would like to see passed, because it makes provision for an extra day of rest for the police in accordance with the Report of the Select Committee, and I should trust that that will go through without serious opposition. There are two other Bills, also Home Office Bills, which it is very desirable to pass if possible—

introduced by my right hon. Friend the other night to correct an error in the Act of last year. Those are all Bills which we should like to see, and which we will endeavour to see, carried through, subject to the observations I have made.