§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.
§ LORD BERNERSopposed the second reading of the Bill, on the ground that the promoters of it had originally contracted for the purchase of 2,000 acres of land under the Act of Parliament constituting the cemetery; that they had secured certain portions of it to themselves, and now they asked Parliament to give them power to dispose of other portions of it. The recent Act of Parliament was passed for the benefit of the metropolis, and the present Bill was completely contrary to the terms of that Act.
§ LORD REDESDALEhoped that their Lordships would allow the Bill to go before a Committee. If the Bill were in the state in which he (Lord Redesdale) believed it to be, the noble Lord who opposed it was not at all correct in his statements. All that the promoters of the Bill wished was, to obtain power to dispose of certain detached portions of the lands they had purchased, which could never be properly appropriated to the purposes of the cemetery.
§ LORD ST. LEONARDSsaid, that if the directors of the cemetery were indulging in land speculations—if they had acquired 1,000 acres more land than they needed, and now wished to sell it for building leases, &c., he should oppose any such proceeding; but if they had only bought more land than they wanted, believing it to be necessary, and now desired to dispose of certain outlying portions of it, he thought it would be a very great hardship if that House interfered with their proceedings.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed. The Committee to be proposed by the Lords' Committees appointed for proposing Committees on opposed Bills.