HL Deb 29 June 1835 vol 29 cc1-2
Lord Brougham

said, that he had a Petition, not praying in general terms for a measure upon Municipal Corporations, but asking their Lordships to pass the particular measure which was now under the consideration of the other House of Parliament. As a petition on the subject of a Bill not yet in the House was irregular, he should not present it, and he mentioned the circumstance to excuse himself with the petitioners for not doing so. With respect to the Bill itself, to which the petitioners alluded, he must take that opportunity of saying, that he saw two decided deficiencies in it, and without which he could not give it the support he desired. In the first place, he did not see sufficient provision to prevent the abuse of Trust Funds left for charitable purposes; and in the next, he saw no sufficient reason to exclude from the advantages of municipal freedom those who had earned a right to it by apprenticeship—men who had not obtained it by birth, but whose title to it was founded on the employment of seven years of their lives in making themselves masters of some useful art or trade, and who had obtained a seven years' character for industry and diligence. He hoped that the Bill would be amended in these two respects before it came up to their Lordships; but if it was not, he should do his best to amend it by introducing two Clauses to the effect he had already stated.

Back to