§ The House went into Committee on this Bill.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid, that serious alterations had been made in this Bill from the Act on which it was founded. The object of the Bill was to extend to the provinces the provisions which now held good in the Metropolis. By the Metropolitan Act it was provided that any person who should mischievously give a false alarm should be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding £20. In this Bill, the words "or without reasonable cause" were added. He could quite understand a person giving an alarm by mistake. Surely it was not right to include a person who made an honest blunder, 62 however unreasonable it might be. He looked with some apprehension at the additions made by the draftsman.
§ LORD PLAYFAIRsaid, he had only taken charge of the Bill that day in the absence of his noble Friend Lord Chesterfield, and as the Lord Chancellor had pointed out a serious point of difference, he would not proceed with the stages of the Bill subsequent to Committee, as had been intended, but would postpone the Motion for the suspension of the Standing Orders till Thursday.
Bill reported without Amendment; Standing Committee negatived; Order for consideration of Standing Order No. XXXIX. read and discharged; and Bill to be read 3a on Thursday next.