Lords Sitting of 8 June 1837

MINUTES.
Bills. Receive the Royal assent:—Exchequer Bills, Inemnity, Penitentiary (Milbank), and Trial by Jury (Scotland).
Petitions presented. By Earl GREY, from the county of Buckingham, to pass the Irish Municipal Reform Bill.—By Lord BROUGHAM, from upwards of 3,700 inhabitants of Brighton, and from 700 rate-payers resident in Marylebone, to adopt the Government plan for the abolition of Church-rates.

POOR LAWS (IRELAND.)
Viscount Duncannonsaid, in reference to the question put to him at an earlier period of the evening by the Earl of Wicklow, relative to the omission of some paragraphs from the correspondence which had been laid before the House between Mr. Senior and the Government that he had inquired into the subject, and the gentleman to whom the letter was written had, it appeared, thought it advisable to withdraw the paragraphs refered to.
The Earl of Wicklowsaid that the return which had been made to their lordships was different from that which had been presented to the other House of Parliament. Whether the omissions which had been made were material or not was a question of no importance, but it was a question of which Mr. Senior was not competent to form a judgment. He thought the paragraphs which had been omitted were of very great importance, and he considered that nothing could be more mischievous than a practice of making alterations in public papers.
Earl Fitztwilliamdid not see that the omission signified much, because this paragraph, after all, only contained the opinion of a private individual. He thought that the Legislature ought to call for facts. He could not help expressing his regret and astonishment that the system about to be proposed was totally different to that recommended by the Irish Poor Law Commissioners themselves, and he lamented that Parliament should be called on to legislate in this manner, throw overboard the facts and inferences collected after a most minute

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and careful investigation, and that the measure should be adopted, founded on a report, to support which there were no documents in existence.
Viscount Melbournesaid their lordships were not called upon to legislate without information, for they had before them the results of the very minute inquiry and investigation which had been made by the Poor Law Commissioners, and they were called upon to legislate in the manner in which Parliament was always called upon to legislate—namely, their general knowledge of the circumstances of the case, and their acquaintance with the state of Ireland.
Subject dropped.

SMALL DEBTS, (SCOTLAND.)
The Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor moved the second reading of the Small Debts (Scotland) Bill, the object of which was to enable the Sheriff to hold courts in different parts of the same county, so as to carry his jurisdiction, the exercise of which was very beneficial, to the doors of various litigants.
Viscount Melvilleobjected to the bill, that it went so saddle the public with nearly 6,000 l., for the performance of duties which were now done for nothing. He would not oppose the second reading but he would at the proper time move that it be referred to a select committee.
Bill read a second time.