§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.
§ Moved, "That the House do now resolve itself into Committee on the said Bill."—(The Lord Privy Seal.)
§ LORD WATSONsaid, he wished to point out to the noble Earl in charge of the Bill (the Earl of Rosebery) that, in the case of England, there was a series of rules and instructions in the Schedules for the guidance of overseers and assessors; but that was not the case with regard to Scotland, the Scotch assessors being left to discover, from a variety of Statutes, what were the proper rules for their own guidance. He, therefore, thought it would be both a desirable and a useful thing if a similar set of rules were prepared in the case of Scotland. To obviate the necessity of moving any Amendment, if the noble Earl would give an assurance that he would cause instructions to be prepared and sent to the assessors to guide them in these matters, that would meet the object he had in view; and he thought it could easily be done through the instrumentality of the Lord Advocate.
THE EARL OF ROSEBERYsaid, he could not give any promise on the sub- 904 ject without communicating with the Lord Advocate. While he thanked the noble and learned Lord for his suggestion, he would see the right hon. and learned Gentleman as soon as possible on the matter.
§ Motion agreed to; House in Committee accordingly.
§ Clauses 1 to 11, inclusive, agreed to.
§ Clause 12 (Special valuation to be made by assessor of railways and canals in police burghs).
§ LORD WATSON,in moving to omit the clause, said, in justification of the Motion, that it was unnecessary to say more than that the clause had no relation whatever to the subject-matter of the Bill. This was a rating clause, dealing with the valuation of railways in burghs. He quite conceived that this might be a matter in regard to which legislation was required; but it was a matter involving a great many interests, and requiring careful consideration, and it ought not, therefore, to be dealt with in a Registration Bill. There was no necessity for such a clause. It would be a very unusual and inexpedient mode of legislation to introduce a rating clause into the body of a Bill for the purpose of registration. He, therefore, moved the rejection of the clause.
§ Moved, "To leave out Clause 12."—(The Lord Watson.)
THE EARL OF ROSEBERYsaid, he quite admitted that the clause, as the noble and learned Lord had said, had no great relation to the Bill. At the same time, he should say that it had been introduced into the Bill in order to remedy a very great inconvenience, which he thought the noble and learned Lord would acknowledge did exist in Scotland. As the Valuation Act of 1854 was included in the scope of the Registration Bill, there was nothing very wrong in including a clause on the point in the Bill; and no objection was raised to the clause in the other House, either on the second reading or in Committee.
§ Motion agreed to; Clause left out accordingly.
§ Remaining Clauses agreed to.
§ The Report of the Amendment to be received To-morrow; and Standing Order 905 No. XXXV. to be considered in order to its being dispensed with: Bill to be printed, as amended. (No. 122.)