§ THE EARL OF SELBORNEMy Lords, I beg to move the Second Reading of this Bill. The present state of the law in respect to Nonconformists is not satisfactory to them. Curiously enough, a special exemption from the attendance of the registrar exists in the case of Quakers and of Jews, but in the case of all other Nonconformist bodies it is necessary that the registrar should be present at the marriage service. And, as a matter of fact, though I do not press this as a very substantial grievance, the registrar is not always available at the moment when convenient to the parties who wish to be married. The registrar of marriages has to hear the declaration of the parties, make out a certificate, and give what are called "the marriage lines." For 10 years or more this has been felt to be a serious grievance on the part of the Nonconformists, and many Bills have been introduced into the House of Commons dealing with this subject. Every one of those Bills has met with an untimely fate, for one reason or another, chiefly because they really did not meet all the difficulties and exigencies of the case. The ruling principle of all those Bills was that the Registrar-General should sanction certain ministers of chapels to act as registrars, but Nonconformist bodies generally objected to be pat under the Registrar-General for this purpose. Finally, a Committee was 254 appointed in 1893, and on their Report this Bill, as it comes to your Lordships' House, has been framed. I may say that the essential points to be borne in mind in dealing with this question are the legitimacy of the children, the validity of the marriage, the certainty of accurate registration, and easy identification of the parties present at a marriage as the attesting witnesses. The present Bill, in the form it was introduced into the House of Commons, did not fulfil these necessary conditions. It was introduced as a private Measure, and allowed what I may call miscellaneous officiation, and did not adequately safeguard registration. The Bill was taken up by the Government in the House of Commons and completely re-modelled. If it were not for that fact the Nonconformists of this country would still have had to wait a long time before they could get this, to them, real grievance removed. This Bill, which I am asking your Lordships to read a second time, is confined to buildings that are under the existing law licensed for the purpose of marriages. It provides that the trustees or governing bodies of any Nonconformist church or chapel, or, in the case of the Roman Catholic body, the bishop or vicar-general in whose diocese or district the chapel is situated, must authorise one or more persons in connection with such church or chapel to be responsible in the matter of these marriages. Such person must always be present on the occasion of a marriage; he must make the necessary entries; he must keep the proper register in duplicate, and every three months he must send one copy of that register to the Registar-General just as the rectors and vicars of the Church of England have to do in the case of church registers. All this is provided for in the Bill, and I think I may claim on behalf of the Government that they have provided a solution which, while safeguarding the extremely important matters I have referred to, will yet be the means of removing a real grievance which has long been felt by the Nonconformists. The vested interests of the present registrars as to the fees they receive now, for the work they do, have been provided for by acknowledging their vested interests on a reduced scale for 10 years, after which time there will be no fees paid to the registrars in respect of 255 marriages at which they are not present. If any persons who propose to be married in a Nonconformist church or chapel prefer to be married, under the existing law, in the presence of the registrar, they are entitled to do so. In asking the House to give this Bill a Second Reading I think you will allow me to say, on your behalf, that although the great majority of your Lordships belong to the Church of England, and are not Nonconformists, yet we are all equally glad to be able to cooperate with our Nonconformist fallow-countrymen in removing what has been to them a substantial grievance, and not subject them any longer to these civil ceremonies in the marriage service, which have been distasteful to them. This Bill has been re-modelled by the Government in the most sympathetic spirit towards the Nonconformists, and is, I believe, cordially accepted by them. I beg to move that the Bill be read a second time.
THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTERMy Lords, as one of those who may represent, perhaps, the persons whose virtual monopoly is somewhat interfered with, by the extension of similar privileges to others, I should like to be allowed to say how cordially I welcome this Bill as based upon principles alike of perfect fairness, of ordinary common-sense, and of public policy. There is one clause which at present I do not clearly understand, and there is another which I have failed, after many attempts, to construe; but they are not points of principle, and I have no doubt they can be explained or amended in Committee. The Bill is a right and just one, and I am exceedingly thankful that it is now about to be added to the Statute Book.
§ Question put.
§ Bill read a second time.