§ Mr. KEIR HARDIE had given notice of the following Motion:—
§ "That the Order for Committal [1st July] be read and discharged, and that the Bill be committed to a Select Committee of Fifteen Members, Eight to be nominated by the House and Seven by the Committee of Selection:
§ "That the Committee have power to send for persons, papers, and records:
§ "That Nine be the quorum:
§ "That it be an Instruction to the Committee to receive all Petitions to be heard against the Bill in Committee which may be deposited not later than five days before the first sitting of the Committee, and to hear the Petitioners thereon if the Committee thinks fit; to consider the proposals of the Bill in relation to the public interest as well as to the various interests directly affected; to hear the Board of Trade and any other Government Department by counsel and witnesses, and to make a Special Report to the House stating whether any and what advantages and disadvantages would result to the interests of the public, or of the passengers and traders using the railways of the companies promoting the Bill, or of the persons employed by these companies, if the powers sought by the Bill were granted; whether any, and what, safeguards are necessary for the protection of these special and general interests, and (in the event of the Committee finding the Preamble proved) what provisions, if any, have been inserted for this purpose."
§ Having put down this notice of Motion, I have been approached by the promoters of the Bill, and they have agreed to accept the first few lines of the Instruction down to the words "thinks fit"; and if it would be in order I would move the Motion in that form and not in the form in which it stands on the Paper.
1008§ Question, "That it be an Instruction to the Committee to receive all Petitions to be heard against the Bill in Committee which may be deposited not later than five days before the first sitting of the Committee, and to hear the petitioners thereon if the Committee thinks fit," put, and agreed to.