Lords Sitting of 4 February 1904

The Viscount Colville of Culross sat first in Parliament after the death of his father.

PRIVATE BILL BUSINESS.
The LORD CHANCELLOR The LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the House that the Clerk of the Parliaments had laid upon the Table the Certificates from the Examiners that the Standing Orders applicable to the following Bills have been complied with:—

Acton Improvement.

Alexandra (Newport and South Wales) Docks and Railway.

Amersham, Beaconsfield, and District Water.

Appleby Corporation Gas.

Arlesey Gas.

Baker Street and Waterloo Railway.

Barnard Castle Gas.

Barnet District Gas and Water.

Barrow-in-Furness Corporation.

Barry Railway (Extension of Time, &c).

Barry Railway (Steam Vessels).

Belfast and North-East Ireland Electricity and Power Gas.

Belfast Corporation (Tramways).

Bexhill Corporation.

Bexhill Water and Gas.

Birkdale Improvement.

Bishop's Stortford and District Gas.

Blyth and Cowpen Gas.

Bournemouth Corporation (Tramways).

Bridlington Corporation.

Bristol Corporation.

Brixham Gas.

Brymbo Water.

Buxton Urban District Council.

Cambrian Railways.

Cardiff Railway.

Carlisle Corporation.

Charing Cross, Euston, and Hampstead Railway.

Cheshire Electricity and Power Gas.

Chesterfield Corporation (Tramways and Improvements).

Chesterfield Gas and Water Board.

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Chippenham Gas.

Colney Hatch Gas.

Corbridge Gas.

Corporation of London (Southwark and other Bridges).

Croydon Gas.

Crystal Palace District Gas.

Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Electric Power.

Derwent Valley Water Board.

Doncaster Corporation.

Donegal Railway.

East Argentine Railway.

East London and Lower Thames Electric Power.

Ebbw Vale Urban District Water.

Edwardes Square Protection.

Elysée Palace Hotel Company.

Felixstowe Gas.

Filey Improvement.

Gas Light and Coke and other Gas Companies Acts Amendment.

Gomersal Gas.

Gosport Water.

Great Central and Midland Joint Railways.

Great Central Railway.

Great Eastern Railway.

Great Eastern Railway (Steamboats).

Great Northern and City Railway (Extension of Time).

Great Northern Railway.

Great Western Railway.

Great Yarmouth Corporation.

Hampton-in-Arden Gas.

Harlow and Sawbridgeworth Gas.

Harrogate Waterworks Tramroad.

Harrow Road and Paddington Tramways.

Holywood Tramways.

Huddersfield Corporation Act, 1902 (Amendment).

Humber Commercial Railway and Dock.

Hutcheson's Hospital and Hutcheson's Educational Trust (Substituted Bill).

Ipswich Dock Commission.

Isle of Thanet Light Railways.

Kettering Improvement.

King's College Hospital.

Kirkby-in-Ashfield Urban District Gas.

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (Steam Vessels).

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (Various Powers).

Lancashire Electric Power.

Leeds Corporation (Consolidation).

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Leeds Corporation (Waterworks) Railway.

Leicestershire and Warwickshire Electric Power.

Leyton Urban District Council.

Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Electric Power.

Littlestone-on-Sea and District Water.

Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company.

Liverpool and Wigan Churches.

Llanelly Harbour.

London and India Docks Company.

London and North-Western Railway.

London, Camberwell, and Dulwich Tramways.

London, Chatham, and Dover Railway.

London County Council (General Powers).

London Port and Docks.

London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway.

Lytham Improvement.

Maidenhead Bridge.

Manchester Corporation (General Powers).

Manchester Corporation Tramways.

Manchester Ship Canal.

Manchester Ship Canal (Finance).

Matlock and District Gas.

Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.

Metropolitan District Railway.

Metropolitan Railway.

Midland Railway.

Milwr and District Mines Drainage.

Minehead Urban District Council Water.

Mullingar, Kells, and Drogheda Railway.

Neath, Pontardawe, and Brynaman Railway.

Newcastle and Gateshead Water.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Corporation.

New River Company.

New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company.

North and South Woolwich Electric Railway.

North Staffordshire Railway.

North-Western Electricity and Power Gas.

Norwich Water.

Nuneaton and Chilvers Coton Urban District Council.

Oakengates, Dawley and District Joint Water Board.

Plymouth and North Devon Direct Railway (Abandonment).

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Plymouth Corporation.

Portmadoc, Beddgelert and South Snowdon Railway.

Preston and Blackburn Tramways.

Preston, Chorley, and Horwich Tramways.

Preston Corporation Water.

Radcliffe Tramways and Improvement.

Reading Corporation.

Rickmansworth and Uxbridge Valley Water.

Romford and District Tramways (Extensions).

Ryde Gas.

Saddleworth and Springhead Tramways (Abandonment).

St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

St. Marylebone Electric Lighting.

St. Mary Woolnoth.

Selby Urban District Council.

Sheffield, Laughton, and Maltby Railway.

Sheppy Gas.

Shipley Urban District Council.

Skip ton Water and Improvement.

Soothill Nether Urban District Tramways.

Southend-on-Sea Gas.

Southend Water.

Southport and Lytham Tramroad (Extension of Time).

South Shields Gas.

South Staffordshire Mines Drainage.

South Western and Isle of Wight Junction Railway (Extension of Time).

Strabane, Raphoe, and Convoy Railway.

Stretford Urban District Council.

Surrey Commercial Dock.

Sutton Gas.

Swindon Corporation.

Thames River Steamboat Service.

Thames Steamboat Trust.

Thurles Urban District Council Water.

Ticehurst and District Water and Gas.

Tottenham Improvement.

Tynemouth Corporation.

Tynemouth Gas.

Tyneside Tramways and Tramroads.

Ulster Electric Power.

Victoria University of Manchester.

Victoria University of Yorkshire.

Wallasey Tramways and Improvements.

Watford and District Tramways (Extension of Time).

Weaver Navigation (Additional Finance).

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Weaver Navigation (Constitution and Finance).

Wellington (Somerset) Gas.

West Metropolitan Railway (Abandonment).

West Metropolitan Railway (Extension of Time).

Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier.

West Riding Tramways.

Whitby Gas.

Withnell Gas.

Wolverhampton Corporation.

Yorktown and Blackwater Gas.

And the Certificates that the Standing Orders applicable to the following Bills have not been complied with:—

Coulsdon Tramways.

London County Council (Tramways and Improvements).

North Wales Electric Power.

Rotherham Corporation.

Trafford Park Dock and Railway.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
  BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES (SCOTLAND).
  Forty-seventh Annual Report of the Registrar-General (Abstracts of 1901).

  WAGES AND EFFECTS OF DECEASED SEAMEN.
  Account of the sums received and paid in respect of the wages and effects of deceased seamen in the year ended 31st March, 1903.
  Presented (by Command), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  GENERAL LIGHTHOUSE FUND.
  Account of the General Lighthouse Fund, under the Acts 57 and 58 Vict. c. 60, s. 679, and 61 and 62 Vict. c. 44, showing the income and expenditure for the year ending 31st March, 1903.

  SEAMEN'S SAVINGS BANKS (MONEY ORDERS, AND TRANSMISSION OF WAGES).
  Account of all deposits received and repaid by the Board of Trade on account of Seamen's Savings Banks, under the authority of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, during the year ended 20th November, 1902, and of the interest thereon; statement showing the number
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  and amount of seamen's money orders issued and paid at ports in the United Kingdom and at ports abroad from 1855 to 31st March, 1903; also statement showing the receipts and payments in connection with the transmission of seamen's wages, home and foreign, from 1878 to 31st March, 1903.

  RAMSGATE HARBOUR.
  Statement of the receipts and payments made by the Board of Trade for the year ended 31st March, 1903; together with an account of the receipt and issue of stores.
  ROYAL PARKS AND GARDENS.
  Rule for Holyrood Park; Provisional Rule for Hyde Park, St. James' and the Green Parks, Regent's Park, Greenwich Park, Hampton Court Park, Hampton Court Gardens, Richmond Park and Green, and Bushy Park.
  COUNTY COURT, ENGLAND (FEES).
  Treasury Order, dated 30th December, 1903, regulating Court fees in County Courts.

  POST OFFICE.
  (Money Orders). Statutory Rules and Orders (1903), No. 806.
  (Telegraphs). Account showing the gross amount received, and the gross amount expended, in respect of the Telegraph Service from the date of the transfer of the telegraphs to the State to the 31st day of March, 1902 (in continuation of No. 31, of Session 1903).

  BUILDING SOCIETIES.
  Ninth Annual Report by the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies of the proceedings of the Registrars under the Building Societies Acts; with an abstract of the annual accounts and statements of the societies for the year 1903.

  DISEASES OF ANIMALS ACTS, 1894 TO 1903.
  Order, dated 23rd September, 1903, entitled the Foreign Animals (Amendment) Order of 1903 (No. 3).
  Order, dated 2nd February, 1904, defining a foreign animals quarantine station at the port of Southampton.

  BANK OF ENGLAND.
  Annual Accounts of Exchequer Bills and other Government Securities purchased.
  Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  THE FISCAL QUESTION.
  THE EARL OF WEMYSS: My Lords, there is a notice standing in my name on the Paper to the effect that a humble Address be presented to His Majesty: praying him to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into and report on the present state and prospects of our trade, and whether any change or other action is needed in furtherance thereof. I had put this Motion down for Monday, but since I gave the notice I find that a great meeting is to be held at the Guildhall on that day, so I would ask leave to postpone the Motion till tomorrow week as the more convenient course.
  THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (The Marquess of LANSDOWKE): Lord Wemyss having postponed his Motion, and Lord Newton having put off the Motion standing in his name until Tuesday week, there are no further Orders on the Paper, and I understand, therefore, that it will be convenient to adjourn until Thursday next. I move to that effect.
  THE MARQUESS OF RIPON: We see no objection on this side of the House to the adoption of the course suggested by the noble Marquess. There is a Chapter of the Garter fixed for Tuesday at Windsor, which will take away a number of noble Lords.
  THE LORD CHANCELLOR (The Earl of HALSBUEY): The judicial business will, of course, proceed as usual.
  THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE: Certainly. I exclude the judicial sittings from my Motion.
  On Question, Motion agreed to.
  House adjourned at twenty-five minutes before Five o'clock, to Monday next, a quarter before Eleven o'clock.