§ On the Order for the Second Reading of this Bill,
§ THE MARQUESS OF RIPON saidAbout an hour ago my attention was drawn to the fact that the Bill which I have put down for Second Reading to-day is a Bill which comes under the category of those to whose introduction here the House of Commons takes objection. I confess that if it had been a Bill relating to any British matter it would undoubtedly have come within that category, because 3 it relates exclusively to Customs Duties; but it did not strike me that the rule applied to Bills which relate to the Customs Duties to be levied in the Colonies. I have, however, looked into the matter since notice was given to me, and I find from precedents dating back as far as 1840 that this rule has invariably prevailed. There have been introduced into this House Bills in which some of the clauses have related to matters of this sort, and they have been sent down with those clauses marked in red ink; but, unhappily, we cannot take that course with regard to this Bill, because it relates to Customs Duties and to nothing else, and there would be nothing left in the Bill. Therefore I cannot ask your Lordships to adopt that course, and I am afraid I have no alternative except to move that the Order be discharged and the Bill withdrawn.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYI will only venture to say that I do not in the least know whether there is any logical justification for the course taken by the House of Commons, but I must confess that a precedent dating only as far back as 1840 does not impress me with its venerable character. All I wish to do is to enter a protest against the course adopted by the noble Marquess being taken as conforming to this venerable precedent, or as altering the state of things before it came into operation.
§ Motion agreed to, and Bill withdrawn.