Lords Sitting of 21 August 1846

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS. — 2a. Wreck and Salvage; Naval and Military Departments; Steam Navigation; Lunatic Asylums (Ireland): Income Tax Deduction-Customs Duties (No. 2); New Zealand Loan Act Amendment.
Reported. Commons Inclosure (No. 3); Public Works and Fisheries; Public Works (Ireland) (No. 3); British Possessions; County Works Presentments (Ireland) (No. 2); House of Commons Offices; Spirit Licenses, etc. Duties; Turnpike Roads (Ireland); Lunatic Asylums and Pauper Lunatics; Public Works, Fisheries, etc.; Public
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Works Commissioners (Ireland); Baths and Washhouses (Ireland); Contagious Diseases.
3a. and passed. Exclusive Privilege of Trading Abolition (Ireland).

DEATH BY ACCIDENTS COMPENSATION BILL.
LORD CAMPBELLmoved that the Commons' Amendments to this Bill be agreed to. The Bill originally provided that the compensation granted by juries should go to the next of kin; but the other House had made an Amendment by which the compensation was to be apportioned among the members of the family. He regarded this Bill as the most important measure that had come before their Lordships since the Corn Bill. Its effect would be that, if railway companies, from a spirit of false economy, carried on their undertakings without proper stock, or appointed persons destitute of competent skill to work their lines, juries would be able to give such an amount of compensation to the families of those who lost their lives in consequence as would read such companies a proper lesson. It had been stated in the other House, when it was known that he had had charge of the Bill, "that it was carelessly drawn," and that "it must have been framed by an amateur legislator." Persons who made such statements could not be aware that the Bill had been the subject of much careful consideration, and that it had received the Amendments and been approved of by the present Lord Chancellor, the late Lord Chancellor, and Lord Denman. Taken in consideration with the Deodands' Abolition Bill, which had received the Royal Assent, the present measure effected a most important amendment in the law of England.
Commons' Amendments considered and agreed to.

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES BILL.
The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE, in moving the Order of the Day for going into Committee upon this Bill, said it was a Bill for the more speedy removal of nuisances. Their Lordships would recollect that in the 2nd or 3rd year of the reign of His late Majesty King William IV., on the appearance of cholera in this country, he (the Marquess of Lansdowne) introduced a Bill for the purpose of the more effectual prevention of cholera, by authorizing the Privy Council to promulgate certain regulations which were to have the force of law under peculiar circumstances. That Bill met with the approbation of their

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Lordships and the other House of Parliament; and having been carried, it had worked extremely well, had produced the most beneficial effects in many instances, and had not been the subject of any sort of complaint whatever; it was, however, thought right at the time to make it only a temporary Bill, and it had some time since expired. Now, although he had the satisfaction of already stating in that House, what he was now enabled to state with greater confidence than before, that, notwithstandiag a great deal of apprehension had existed during the summer with regard to the reappearance of that malady in this country, there certainly had been no instance whatever in London, or, as far as he was informed, in England, in which the peculiar features of that malady had been met with; yet it was true that that season had been altogether unwholesome, and attended with a great deal of illness, not partaking of the graver character, but certainly having the tendency, and of that peculiar description which is promoted by a want of cleanliness, morality, and of the proper channels in the neighbourhood of crowded districts to carry off the filth generated there. By this Bill, therefore, it was intended to provide that where, in any district, two medical officers should go before two justices of the peace and declare their opinion that the state of any particular dwelling or mass of dwellings was such as to cause a just alarm of their originating a contagious disorder, those justices should have the power of causing those dwellings to be whitewashed by the inhabitants. There was to be a power to proceed against the owner or occupier; for, in many instances, the occupiers were so poor that they were not capable of carrying the law into effect, and the owner should be charged. The Act was to be put in force by the town council; and where there was no town council, by the trustees or commissioners for paving and cleansing; and where there was no such body, then by the boards of guardians. Independently of the apprehensions which had existed with respect to the cholera, it was highly expedient to improve the law for better cleansing the habitations of the poorer classes.
The EARL of RANFURLYinquired whether the Bill was to extend to Ireland?
The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNEreplied, that it was the intention of the Government to introduce another Bill similar in its character, for Ireland.
The EARL of ELLENBOROUGHen-
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tirely approved of the provisions of the Bill; but he hoped in the observations the noble Marquess the President of the Council, had made, he did not intend to convey that the cholera was a contagious disease.
The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE, in reply, observed that the noble Earl had mistaken his meaning. He had not said, neither did he intend to convey, that the cholera was a contagious disease. The highest medical authorities in the kingdom had stated it as their opinion that the disease was not a contagious disorder
The EARL of ELLENBOROUGHmerely called attention to the noble Marquess's observations in order to prevent alarm, which in many cases had the effect of causing the disorder.
Bill reported, without amendment.
House adjourned.