Lords Sitting of 4 December 1867

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS—Second Reading—Drainage and Improvement of Lands (Ireland) Supplemental* (3); Totnes, &c. Writs (7); East London Museum Site (2).
TOTNES, &c. WRITS BILL.
(The Earl of Derby.)

(NO. 7.) SECOND READING.
Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Earl of Derby.)
THE EARL OF DERBY, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that the object of the Bill was merely to remedy an oversight in the Reform Act of the last Session. It was enacted by the 12th section, that from and after the end of this present Parliament the four boroughs reported against shall respectively cease to return any Member or Members to serve in Parliament; and by the 60th section it was provided that in the event of any vacancy in the representation of any constituency, or of the calling a new Parliament before the 1st of January, 1869, the election shall take place in the same manner as if the Act had not been passed; except that the four boroughs disfranchised by the Act shall not return Members to the New Parliament. The wording of these clauses left it doubtful whether, in the event of a vacancy occurring in any one of these four boroughs during the existing Parliament, it would not be
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necessary to issue a writ for the election of a new Member. It was moreover thought that a Resolution of the House of Commons to suspend the issue of the writ was not the proper way of meeting the case. This Bill had therefore been introduced to remove this doubt.
Motion agreed to: Bill read 2a (according to Order); Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a To-morrow.

EAST LONDON MUSEUM SITE BILL.
(The Lord President.)

(NO. 2.) SECOND READING.
THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH, in moving that the Standing Orders relative to Private Bills be dispensed with, in order that this Bill might be now read a second time, explained that its object was to remove a technical difficulty in the way of requiring a site for this Museum, in the construction of which it was intended to spend £5,000 during the coming year. The Standing Order which it was desired to suspend directed that, in reference to such a Bill, it should be laid before the Attorney General, and that he should report upon it.
Motion agreed to.
Standing Orders relating to Private Bills considered, and dispensed with.
Bill read 2a (according to Order), and committed for To-morrow; and Standing Orders Nos. 37 and 38. to be considered in order to their being dispensed with.
House adjourned at a quarter past Five o'clock, till To-morrow, Eleven o'clock.