Lords Sitting of 28 July 1876

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS—Committee Report—Convict Prisons (Returns)* (179); Isle of Man (Officers)* (174).
Third Reading—Medical Act (Qualifications)* (184); Clean Rivers* (182), and passed.

THE JUDICATURE ACT.

  EXPLANATION.
  LORD COLERIDGEsaid, he wished to make a correction of what he stated upon this subject in last night's debate. He had been represented as saying that the arrears in Banco were 150 cases, whereas, in fact, they were only about 50. He remarked yesterday that at the sittings at Nisi Prius in London and Middlesex, during the legal year which was now drawing to a close, there were
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  standing for trial 670 cases; but he found that the number was nearer 700. He desired to add in reference to the present number of arrears of causes standing for trial being "unprecedented" that he remembered that in the Court in which he now had the honour to preside there were not long ago at the Guildhall sittings alone 348 causes standing for trial. Consequently, it was incorrect to say that the present state of things was unprecedented.

THE DISTURBANCES IN BARBADOES.

  OBSERVATIONS.
  EARL GRANVILLE: I wish to make a remark respecting the Second Order of the Day. It stands in the name of the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Carnarvon), who is about "to call attention to the Parliamentary Papers relative to the recent disturbances in Barbadoes." I do not like to raise any objection to the noble Earl taking the same course

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  which I myself took the other day, and which the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack then objected to. I would, however, remark that the Papers on this subject have only been for a very short in your Lordships' hands, and I regret to say that my noble Friend (the Earl of Kimberley) who wished to take part in the discussion is in bed with a sore throat. In these circumstances, I trust the noble Earl will find it convenient to postpone his Motion.
  THE EARL OF CARNARVON: I feel some little difficulty, now that the Session is drawing so near to an end, in postponing the discussion of the question. But I have heard with great regret of the illness of my noble Friend (the Earl of Kimberley). I know the interest he takes in this matter, and the way in which he is concerned in it, for he has been more or less a party to the transactions mentioned in the Blue Book. I have no hssitation, therefore, in agreeing to the proposal of my noble Friend opposite, and I will postpone the discussion of the question to the next open day—which day I will fix when I have seen that my noble Friend (the Earl of Kimberley) is restored to health.

  PARLIAMENTARY AGENCY.
  Order of the Day for resuming the Adjourned Debate, on the Motion, That this House do agree to the Report of the Select Committee.
  Debate resumed.
  LORD REDESDALEagain insisted on the importance of having a qualified and recognized body for the transaction of Parliamentary business. He did not at all assent to the recommendation of the Petition of the Incorporated Law Society as to members of the legal Profession. Formerly the business of Parliamentary Agents was transacted by officers of the two Houses, and it was done most efficiently, and the fees which were awarded for the work were not considered as being more than sufficient for the purpose, and the evidence of Sir Theodore Martin, who represented the Parliamentary Agents, showed that the division of fees between the solicitors and Parliamentary Agents was most objectionable. He (Lord Redesdale) hoped that under all
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  the circumstances their Lordships would agree with the recommendations of the Joint Committee of both Houses. Under the present system he and other Officers of the House had an influence over Parliamentary Agents, and nothing tended so much to the maintenance of due order in the discharge of the Business than that they should have the assistance of qualified Parliamentary Agents.
  THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, that after the time which had elapsed since the subject had been brought under the notice of the public he had no wish to place himself in a position of antagonism with reference to it to his noble Friend, by whom the Private Business of the House was conducted with so much efficiency and wisdom. He had received numerous communications in reference to the Report, almost all of which were directed to the point of the division of profits between the Parliamentary Agents and their solicitors. His noble Friend said that Sir Theodore Martin and the Parliamentary Agents seemed to think the division of profits very objectionable, and if he (the Lord Chancellor) were a Parliamentary Agent he would probably be of the same opinion, because if they were not divided the Parliamentary Agents would get the whole. His noble Friend had not heard what the Law Societies of London and Liverpool had to say on the other side; and if it was a perfectly well-understood thing, as it was, that between the country and the town solicitors there might be a division of fees, he could see no good reason why there should not be a similar division between country solicitors and Parliamentary Agents. There was besides the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of enforcing any rule which might be made on the subject; for if it were deemed desirable by those concerned that the profits should be divided, a way of doing so would readily be found.
  THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNobserved there was no analogy between the case of the country solicitor and his town agent, and that of the country solicitor and the Parliamentary Agent. In the one case only one set of fees was allowed—in the other two sets were allowed. What the country solicitor now asked was to be allowed not only to receive his own charges, but to share in the charges of the Parliamentary Agent.

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  The Order of the House could be easily enforced by striking of the list of Agents any one who contravened it.
  Motion agreed to.
  House adjourned at half past Five o'clock, to Monday next, a quarter before Five o'clock.