§ In reply to Lord HENNIKER,
§ THE DUKE OF RICHMONDstated that, as had been already announced in "another place" by his right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, the Government proposed to issue a small Royal Commission, with a view of obtaining information with reference to the subject of vivisection. Without such information as the Commission was calculated to obtain, he thought legislation would be premature.
§ LORD HENNIKERsaid, that as it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to appoint a Commission on the subject, he thought it would be for the convenience of the House and the Government if he stated the course he proposed to pursue with respect to his Bill. He regretted Her Majesty's Government should have thought it necessary to appoint a Commission, for he thought they had ample information already; but, as the Government deemed it to be necessary, and in the face of the circumstances that the Prime Minister had, as it were, pledged himself to the appointment of a Commission, that this proposal had met with unanimous approval in "another place," and that the subject was, in some respects, a new one, he did not think it would be possible for him to do less than to postpone action in the matter. He would therefore put off the second reading of his Bill for a month, with a hope that it might then be possible to know to some extent the result of the inquiry; and, if not, their Lordships might be sure he should do his best to consider the convenience of the House when the proper time arrived.