SECOND READING. (Hansard, 16 March 1863)

§ EARL GRANVILLE

said, he rose to move the second reading of this Bill, the object of which he would briefly explain. Their Lordships would remember that an Act was passed towards the close of last Session enabling certain unions of Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire to exercise borrowing powers with a view of meeting the prevalent distress under certain conditions. The different unions throughout the counties, with the assistance of charitable committees, had laboured diligently towards the mitigation of evils so extensively felt, and nine of the unions within the distressed districts had taken advantage of the Act and had either used the rate in aid power, or, the power of borrowing on the security of the rates. But, as their Lordships were aware, an immense amount of distress still existed. A large number of persons were supported by means of the rates, and he believed a still larger number derived assistance from those generous contributions which had been made from nearly all parts of the world in aid of the distress in the cotton districts, and without which it would have been absolutely necessary to exercise the borrowing powers in a much larger degree. He trusted, that the general prospects of the country were improving; but it was impossible to say when the crisis would be at an end, and in the mean time there was a great deficiency of the raw material. From week to week 1463 The supply was something like twenty as compared with forty-eight bales; and even if some of the mills were kept working half-time, it was impossible to suppose that such relief was generally extended, because, of course, a proportionately large supply of cotton was procured in particular places, while in others the operatives were almost unemployed. The employment thus afforded was, moreover, not a steady process; it depended very much on the price of the raw material and the value of the manufactured produce, and clearly also upon the expectations caused by political events. Consequently, it was necessary that the powers conferred upon unions by the Bill of last year should be continued, at all events, for two quarters; and, with some alterations which the experience of its working in the interval had suggested, the present Bill was a re-enactment of the measure of last year. The most important alteration was that the period allowed for repayment of loans borrowed under the Act was extended from seven to fourteen years; leaving unions to repay the amount voluntarily at an earlier date if they thought proper to do so. By the 4th clause provision was made for the cases of unions in more than one county; and by the 5th clause the parishes comprised within the Mansfield Union, in the county of Notts, were exempted from the operation of the 1st section of the Act. He believed their Lordships would cheerfully give their assent to this measure. He trusted there would be a continuance of the good conduct which had been so remarkable hitherto on the part of all concerned in this great calamity, and that the same co-operation which had been extended by individual effort to the exertions of the unions for the relief of distress would be apparent in the future as it had been in the past. This was a subject to which he could not allude without expressing his regret at the absence of the noble Earl (the Earl of Derby) whose exertions had been conspicuous in this national emergency. The noble Earl then moved that the Bill be now read 2^a.