§ THE EARL OF WEMYSSBefore your Lordships separate I wish to present a Bill, entitled "An Act to amend the Law relating to Ballot for the Militia in England and Wales." This is not my own Bill; it is a foundling which I picked up inanimate and comatose on the steps of the War Office. I have made no change in it except to substitute my own name on the back of it for that of the Marquess of Lansdowne. In Committee I shall endeavour to make the Bill much less harsh and onerous to the people of the country than it is as it stands now. I believe by law a man is bound to support, his own child, and in the circumstances I do not see how my noble friend the Secretary of State for War or the noble Marquess at the head of the Government can oppose the Bill, in spite of the statement of the Prime Minister on a former occasion that in his view the adoption of ballot for the Militia would cause wholesale emigration of the young men of the country. I hope your Lordships will give a favourable consideration to the Bill, and that when we get 477 into Committee we shall endeavour to make it not only a useful and permanent measure, but one which will not weigh heavily on the people of this country. I beg to move the First Reading of the Bill.
§ A Bill to amend the law relating to the ballot for the Militia in England and Wales—Was presented by the Lord Wemyss (E. Wemyss); read 1a; and to be printed. (No. 23.)