The Earl of Caledonpresented a petition from the Grand Jury of the county of Tyrone, praying their Lordships to postpone to a future period the Bill for amending the system of Grand Juries in Ireland. It was impossible that the measure could, at this period of the session, be properly considered. The Bill had been introduced into the House of Commons on the 28th of May, and had been brought up to their Lordships' House on the 20th of July. It contained 171 clauses, and it was preposterous to call on their Lordships to pass it at this late period of the session.
§ Viscount Duncannonsaid, he thought the noble Earl would admit, that the grand jury laws ought to be amended.
The Marquess of Westmeathhad no doubt that the noble Lord who introduced the Bill in the other House had done so under the conviction of his own sense of 430 duty, as well as from being pressed on the subject by different parties. He (the Marquess of Westmeath), however, thought that the old grand jury system, as it at present stood, which it was the object of this Bill to amend, was essentially a bad one. What he would recommend was, that the funds to be devoted to public works should be placed under the superintendence of a scientific Board of Works. He wished that the present grand jury system should be considered, not with reference to its amendment, but with a view to its total abolition.
§ Petition laid on the table.