§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY moved that the Bill be now read the second time. Various telegraph companies had obtained, by private Bills, which were unopposed, powers which would not have been granted to them if the Bills had come before Parliament as Public Bills, and the object of the present Bill was to restrict and regulate these powers.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEsaid, that some of the provisions of the Bill were objectionable, particularly those which enabled telegraph companies arbitrarily to deal with property without the consent of the owners. There would, however, be an opportunity to bring the matter under their Lordships' notice in Committee.
§ Motion agreed to: Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday the 1st of June next.