§ THE MARQIESS TOWNSHEND moved, that the Bill be now read the second time. He admitted that some of the details of this and his previous measure might appear trivial; but they dealt more or less with life or limb, and he hoped that on a future occasion they would have a more favourable reception. The 1st clause of the Bill imposed a penalty on persons throwing or dropping orange-peel, &c., on the footways, and though this might seem absurd and ludicrous as a subject for legislation, it was not many months ago that a young man became a helpless cripple through a fall from this cause. Dr. Lankester, though * he recollected no fatal accident of the kind, informed him that very serious casualties occurred, and that it would be a service to the community to prevent the practice. Some of the hospital returns, moreover, reported a number of accidents yearly from treading on orange-peel, and one of the officials in the Registrar General's Department had lost his life in this manner. The Bill also proposed to check the practice of too rapid, driving through the streets, owing to which many lives were lost in the course of every year; of the dangerous and improper practice of allowing females to go outside for the purpose of window-cleaning; and of placing flower pots in precarious positions. The 2nd clause provided some regulations as to crossing-sweepers; the 3rd forbade the shocking custom of retaining the corpses of deceased persons in rooms occupied by living inmates; and the last, imposed a penalty on persons conveying in public vehicles any person suffering from infectious disease.
THE EARL OF AIRLIEadvised the noble Marquess to withdraw the Bill, as it was hopeless to initiate legislation for the metropolis in this House, since the wishes of the metropolis could only be properly ascertained through its representatives in the other House. If the noble Marquess indulged in the luxury of smoking, he would stand a very good chance of being "hoist with his own petard," for the dropping of the ashes of a cigar would be punishable under the 1st clause, which prohibited the throwing or dropping of peel, or any vegetable 1596 production. If everything which had been a cause of death was to be legislated on, he did not see where Parliament could stop.
Order for the Second Beading discharged, and Bill (by leave of the House) withdrawn.