Lords Sitting of 30 June 1896

LORD BELLEW (CLAIM TO VOTE FOR REPRESENTATIVE PEERS FOR IRELAND).
Ordered and Directed, that a Certificate be sent by the Clerk of the Parliaments to the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland, stating that the Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom has reported to the House of Lords that the right of Lord Bellow to vote at the elections of Representative Peers for Ireland has been established to the satisfaction of him the said Lord Chancellor; and that the House of Lords has ordered such report to be sent to the said Clerk of the Crown in Ireland: And it is hereby also Ordered, that the said Report of the said Lord Chancellor be sent to the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland.
MARQUESS OF WATERFORD.
Report made from the Lord Chancellor, that the right of Henry De la Poer Beresford, Marquess of Waterford, to vote at the elections of Representive Peers for Ireland has been established to the satisfaction of the Lord Chancellor; read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
  FALMOUTH RECTORY BILL.
  Reported without Amendment.
  SCOVELL'S DIVOECE BILL [H.L.]
  Returned from the Commons agreed to.
  TODD'S DIVORCE BILL [H.L.]
  Returned from the Commons agreed to.
  CHELSEA WATER BILL.
  Returned from the Commons with the Amendments agreed to.
  EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY (TRANSFER OF PATRONAGE) BILL, [H.L.]
  Reported from the Standing Committee without Amendment, and to be read 3a on Thursday next.
  TRUSTS (SCOTLAND) BILL [H.L.]
  A Bill to amend the Trusts (Scotland) Act, 1867, Amendment Act, 1887—Was presented by the Lord Balfour; read 1a; to be printed; and to be read 2a on Tuesday next.—[No. 171.]
CABS (LONDON) BILL.
Considered in Committee (according to Order): Bill reported without Amendment; and recommitted to the Standing Committee.

PUBLIC HEALTH (SEWERS AND DRAINS) BILL.
On the Order for the Third Reading of tills Bill,
EARL BEAUCHAMPsaid that, having been in communication with those in consultation with whom he originally brought in the Measure, they were agreed that so far from amending the present state of the law, it would if passed make confusion worse confounded. He, therefore, thought it advisable to withdraw the Bill, in the hope that before next Session, in consultation with the Local Government Board and the noble Earl (the Earl of Morley) whose Amendments were embodied in it, they should be able to introduce a new Bill which would be entirely satisfactory to all parties.
*LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWENthought the noble Earl deserved every credit for tackling this difficult and thorny subject, but he had shown very great judgment in withdrawing his Bill on this occasion; and this for two reasons. First, because it would make the law on the subject, already most perplexing and uncertain, more perplexing

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and uncertain still; and also because, from the noble Earl's point of view, the Amendments introduced by the noble Earl opposite certainly destroyed any merit—if merit it had—which the original Bill possessed. This subject of sewers and drains, and the responsibilities in connection with them as a branch of the Public Health Acts, was in a most confused condition—so much so that he should have no difficulty in pointing out cases in the Queen's Bench Division impossible to reconcile one with another. He suggested for the consideration of the Government whether the time had not arrived for putting into one Act, in consolidated form, the whole provisions which were to be found scattered through different Acts of Parliament, not always themselves easily reconcilable, so that the law might be brought into a coherent and simple form, instead of being as now, a fruitful source of litigation.
THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (THE EARL OF MORLEY)joined in the remarks of the Lord Chief Justice. He regretted that his own Amendments might have had some effect in injuring the Bill, but it was impossible to say what the effect of a new definition inserted in an earlier Act might be, and he feared very much that in this case, which was obviously a Bill in favour of local authorities, injustice might have been done to individuals if it passed in its original condition.
Order of the Day for the Third Reading, read, and discharged; and Bill, by leave, withdrawn.

FISHERIES ACTS (NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK) AMENDMENT BILL.
Considered in Committee (according to Order); Bill reported without amendment; Standing Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a on Monday next.
House adjourned at a Quarter before Six o'clock, to Thursday next, a Quarter past Ten o'clock.