§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
LORD BALFOUR, in moving that the Bill be read the second time, said, it applied to any Member of the House of Commons who might be afflicted with lunacy. At present there was no provision in the law by which, in such a case, the seat could be vacated, and the consequence was that the constituency was deprived of the services of their Member in the House of Commons. The object of the Bill was to enable the House of Commons, after certain inquiries, to vacate the seat of a Member who had become so afflicted. Under the Bill the Speaker would cause inquiries to be made and Reports presented to the House, and the House would take the course which the Speaker would recommend. He might add that the House of Commons had passed the Bill unanimously.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a." (The Lord Balfour of Burleigh.)
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow.