§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ LORD FITZGERALD, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that certain questions of a scandalous nature having arisen with regard to attempts which had been made to build over disused burial grounds, the present measure, which consisted of one clause only, had been introduced into the House of Commons, with the object of rendering it unlawful to erect any buildings upon any disused burial ground, except for the purposes of the church attached thereto. He hoped that the measure would recommend itself to their Lordships. He begged to move the second reading of the Bill.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Lord Fitzgerald.)
THE BISHOP OF LONDONsaid, he regretted to find there was a great deficiency in the Bill; and, in order to correct it, he would suggest that it should be amended by the addition of words which would permit the erection of mortuaries, of which there was a great want in the Metropolis, on such grounds. In his opinion, that was a matter of the highest importance, considering the crowded condition of the dwellings of the London poorer classes. It was too late, he was sorry to say, to amend the Bill at that period of the Session; but he hoped next Session to be able to do so.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly; Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a To-morrow.