Lords Sitting of 6 July 1863

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS—First Reading—Colonial Letters Patent* (No. 189); Militia Ballots Suspension * (No. 190).
Second Reading—Passengers Act Amendment (No. 163).
Committee—Mutiny (East India) Act Repeal* (No. 153).
Report—Thames Embankment (South Side)* (No. 162), reported specially; British Columbia Boundaries [H.L.]* (No. 149); Oaths Relief in Criminal Proceedings (Scotland)* (No. 72).
Third Reading—Naval Medical Supplemental Fund Society Winding-up Act, 1861, Amendment* (No. 184); Jurisdiction of Justices [H.L.] * (No. 172); District Parochial Churches (Ireland)* (No. 186); and severally passed.

PASSENGERS ACT AMENDMENT BILL.

  (No. 163) SECOND READING.
  THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE moved the second reading of the Bill, the object of which was to amend the Act of 1855. Serious complaints had been made as to the treatment to which emigrants were subjected on shipboard with respect to overcrowding, the nature of the food supplied, and other matters. The Act was introduced to remedy these evils, and in pursuance of the recommendation of the Emigration Commissioners further Amendments were introduced by the present Bill.
  Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow.

SUBSCRIPTION TO FORMULARIES OF FAITH—THE OXFORD PETITION.

  EXPLANATIONS.
  THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURYsaid, he had undertaken, on behalf of the Bishop of Oxford, who was unavoidably absent, to move that the Petition from certain Heads of Colleges, Professors, Fellows, and Tutors of the University of Oxford, for removing the present subscription required for academical degrees, and presented to the House on Friday last by the noble Earl the Foreign Secretary, be printed; but finding from his noble Friend the President of the Council that the Motion would be informal, he should not propose it.
  EARL RUSSELLsaid, the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Derby) stated the other evening that the Petition which he (Earl Russell) had presented was not signed entirely by Fellows and Tutors, but that among the signatures were to be found those of some Students. That was the case in a few instances; but the Students so signing were members of Christ Church College, and ranked, as the noble Earl would be aware, with Fellows.
  THE EARL OF DERBYsaid, the noble Earl was correct in his statement. He only received the Petition at twenty minutes past four, with a request from the noble Earl (Earl Russell) to let him have it in the House at five o'clock. In his hasty perusal of the document, seeing the word "Student" attached, it did not at the moment occur to him that the parties who signed might be Students of Christ Church.
  EARL GRANVILLEsaid, he desired to correct an error into which a right rev. Prelate, the Bishop of Oxford, had fallen
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  in the discussion on Friday night. The right rev. Prelate said, that if the requirement of subscription was abolished at the University, the higher degrees of Divinity would be open to persons who did not belong to the Church of England.
  THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK: The right rev. Prelate said—so far as the University was concerned.
  EARL GRANVILLE: All persons must be ordained before taking the higher degrees in Divinity. The requirement of subscription by the Bishops was a sufficient safeguard.
  THE EARL OF DERBYremarked, that the right rev. Prelate distinctly stated, that as far as the University was concerned, the abolition of these tests would open Divinity professorships to persons who might not be members of the Church of England.
  LORD TAUNTONsaid, the Petitioners distinctly stated that they were anxious that all theological teaching should be confined to members of the Church of England.

FORTIFICATIONS—DEFENCES OF THE BRISTOL CHANNEL.—QUESTION.
LORD PORTMANsaid, that being deeply interested in that part of the county of Somerset which adjoined the Bristol Channel, he wished to put a Question to the Secretary for War. In order to provide some defence on that part of the coast against attacks in case of war the Government had already purchased sites for the erection of fortifications. No steps, however, had been taken to construct those works, and he wished to know what the intentions of the Government were in respect of those sites?
EARL DE GREY AND RIPONsaid, it was true that the Government had acquired sites for defensive works upon the coast of the Bristol Channel. His predecessor, Sir George Lewis, in framing the Estimates for the present year, had not thought it right to include any sum for the purpose of executing the works upon those sites. All that he could say was, that he was not indifferent to the importance of the matter of the defences of the Bristol Channel, and the subject should receive his careful attention.
House adjourned at a quarter before Six o'clock, till To-morrow half past Ten o'clock.