§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into a Committee read.
LORD STRATHEDEN AND CAMPBELLsaid, he had been requested by the Government to postpone the Committee stage of the Bill, and of course he had no alternative but to comply with that request. The Bill was read a second time on the 9th of May, the Committee was then put off to this day at the request of the Government, and now a further postponement was asked for. The Government having assented to the second reading, he had no right to assume that they were in the least opposed to the objects of the Bill, and it was only a question of the way and the machinery by which those objects should be attained.
§ EARL BROWNLOWsaid, that on the part of the Government he had to thank the noble Lord. The fact was the Bill dealt with a matter of great importance, and, having quite lately assumed the responsibility of representing the Home Office in that House, he had to ask the noble Lord in charge of the Bill to give him a little time to master the facts of the case and the questions that were involved.
§ Order discharged; House to be in Committee on Monday next.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Five o'clock, till To-morrow, a quarter past Four o'clock.