(No. 12.) SECOND READING. (Hansard, 28 February 1867)

THE LORD CHANCELLOR
said, it bad been communicated to him that several noble Lords connected with Scotland desired that the second reading of the Bill, which stood appointed for that evening, should be postponed until after the 30th April. Consequently, he was disposed to acquiesce, considering that it was the general wish of the noble Lords that this course should be adopted. But he was now told that this was not the case, and that the general desire was against postponement. If that were so, he should go on with the Bill to-morrow, when he should be better prepared than at present to move the second reading.

THE EARL OF DALHOUSIE
said, he was not one of those who desired that the Bill should be postponed, but of those who look upon the measure as a very useful one, and one that would conduce considerably to allay the agitation that existed upon the subject in Scotland. He trusted, therefore, that instead of postponing the second reading, the noble and learned Lord would proceed with the Bill in duo course.

THE EARL OF SELKIRK
said, he was extremely anxious that this Bill, the principle of which he did not hesitate to say 1142 he was strongly opposed to, should be put off until after the 30th April. He did not desire postponement because he thought there was anything in the measure that could not, if necessary, be now discussed, and he should be prepared to go into the merits of the Bill to-morrow, but in order that the landed proprietors and tenants in Scotland might be able to consider and express their opinion on the measure. It was not on account of any effects which the measure might have on the interests of the landlord that he opposed this Bill—it would not affect their interests in the smallest degree. It was because its provisions would compel the landlords to use such an amount of stringency as to the time of collecting their rents, as would be most embarrassing to the small farmers. The large farmers were much more in the habit of expressing their opinions than the small farmers, and had better opportunities of doing so; and as it was supposed that the Bill was framed in the interests of the large farmers, rather than in those of the small ones—which he certainly believed—he thought the latter ought to have ample time to know what the measure was, and to make their views known upon it. The Bill would greatly affect the cattle breeders and feeders of the West of Scotland, and on their behalf he asked for the postponement of the second reading until the month of May; but if the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack thought it right to go on with the Bill to-morrow, he should be quite prepared to state his objections to the measure.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR
said, that from what was said to him by several of his noble Friends, he thought there was a general desire to postpone the second reading; and therefore he did not come down that evening prepared to move the Bill forward that stage; but, as he found that this was not the general wish, he would move the second reading to-morrow.