Lords Sitting of 15 July 1904

EARL OF CORK AND ORRERY.
Petition of Charles Spencer Canning Boyle, Earl of Cork and Orrery in the Peerage of Ireland, claiming a right to vote at the election of Representative Peers for Ireland; read, and referred to the Lord Chancellor to consider and report thereupon to the House.
MARQUESS CONYNGHAM.
Petition of Victor George Henry Francis, Marquess Conyngham in the Peerage of Ireland, claiming a right to vote at the election of Representative Peers for Ireland; read, and referred to the Lord Chancellor to consider and report thereupon to the House.

PRIVATE BILL BUSINESS.
The LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the House, That the Clerk of the Parliaments had laid upon the Table the Certificate from the Examiners that the further Standing Orders applicable to the following Bill have been complied with:—Loch Leven Water Power. The same was ordered to lie on the Table.
Thames River Steamboat Service Bill. The King's consent, and the consent of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in right of his Duchy of Cornwall, signified, and Bill reported from the Select Committee, with Amendments.
Belfast and North-East Ireland Electricity and Power Gas Bill [H.L.]. Read 3a and passed, and sent to the Commons.
Local Government Provisional Orders (No. 10) Bill. Brought from the Commons; read 1a; to be printed; and referred to the Examiners. (No. 148.)
Llanelly Harbour Bill [H.L.]; Tyne-mouth Corporation Bill [H.L.]. Returned from the Commons agreed to, with Amendments. The said Amendments considered, and agreed to.
Great Eastern Railway Bill; North Western Electricity and Power Gas Bill. Returned from the Commons with the Amendments agreed to.
Electric Lighting Provisional Orders (No. 3) Bill [H.L.]. Amendments reported (according to order). Then Standing Order No. XXXIX. considered (according to order), and dispensed with. Bill read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.
Local Government Provisional Order (No. 4) Bill. House in Committee (according to order); Bill reported without Amendment. Standing Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a on Tuesday next.
Greenock Corporation Order Confirmation Bill [H.L.]; Glasgow Corporation (Tramways, etc.) Order Confirmation Bill [H.L.]. Read 2a (according to order), and (pursuant to the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899), deemed to have been reported from the Committee. Bills to be read 3a on Monday next.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
  Summary of the speech of the Secretary of State for War with regard to the re-organisation of the Army.

  TRADE REPORTS (ANNUAL SERIES).
  No. 3217. Brazil (Imports into Brazil).
  No. 3218. Japan (Hakodate).
  No. 3219. Japan (Shimonoseki).
  No. 3220. Corea.

  BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES.
  Report on the cultivation and drying of chicory in Great Britain and Belgium.

  POST OFFICE (WAGES).
  Report and appendices of the Committee appointed to inquire into Post Office wages.
  Part I. Report.
  Part II. Minutes of evidence.
  Presented (by Command), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  PACIFIC CABLE ACT, 1901 (ACCOUNT 1903–1904).
  Account showing the money issued from the Consolidated Fund under the provisions of the Pacific Cable Act, 1901 (1 Edw. 7. c. 31), and the money received, expended, and borrowed, and securities created under the said Act, to the 31st March, 1904; together with a copy of the report of the Chairman of the Pacific Cable Board.
  RULES PUBLICATION ACT, 1893.
  Draft additional rule, July, 1904 (previous proceedings).

  POLLING DISTRICTS (COUNTY OF ESSEX).
  Order made by the county council of the county of Essex altering certain polling districts in the county.
  Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  PUBLIC HEALTH BILL [H.L.]
  House in Committee (according to order); Bill reported without amendment; and re-committed to the Standing Committee.

  REGISTRATION OF CLUBS (IRELAND) BILL.
  House in Committee (according to order).
  Clause 1:—
  Drafting Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 1, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 2:—
  THE EARL OF DENBIGHmoved to amend the first sub-section, which provided that the application for registration should be accompanied by a certificate in the form set out, and proceeded—
  "The certificate shall be signed by two justices of the peace sitting at petty sessions for the county or by any two justices of a county borough, as the case may be, within which such premises are situate, and shall also, where such premises are not owned by the club, be signed by the owner of such premises or, where the owner is under any legal disability, by his legal representative."
  He moved to insert, after the word "signed" the words contained in his Amendment.
  Amendment moved—
  "In page 2, line 12, after the word 'signed' to insert the words, 'where the premises are situate within the county borough of Dublin by two justices of the peace for the said county borough, and where the premises are situate in any part of the Dublin Metropolitan Police District which is not comprised in the county premises are situate elsewhere in Ireland.'"—(The Earl of Denbigh.)
  On Question, Amendment agreed to.
  Drafting Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 3:—
  Drafting Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 3, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 4:—
  THE EARL OF DENBIGHexplained that the Amendment standing in his name to this clause was antecedent to another Amendment, the object of which was to deal with the question of the sale of excisable liquor to members of a club for consumption off the premises. In the House of Commons the Irish Government proposed an Amendment which would have permitted such sale, but that Amendment was resisted by the pramoters of the Bill. An arrangement had subsequently been arrived at between the promoters and the Irish Government to which effect was proposed to be given by the Amendment standing in his name to Clause 8 (Penalties for supplying excisable liquor for consumption outside registered club)—
  "Provided that the Court when granting an application for the registration of a club, may, if it thinks fit, make an order authorising the sale or supply on the premises of the club, between the hours of eight o'clock in the morning and ten o'clock at night, of excisable liquor to members for their own consumption outside those premises, and where such order is made this section shall not apply in the case of any sale or supply of liquor thereby authorised."
  But if the noble Lord in charge of the Bill (Lord Clonbrock) preferred the Amendment standing in his own name, which would assimiliate the law in Ireland to that in England and Scotland in this respect, the Irish Office were quite prepared to accept it and would withdraw their Amendment to Clause 8.
  LORD CLONBROCKsaid that although the effect of both Amendments would be the same he preferred his own wording.
  THE EARL OF DENBIGHintimated that he would not, therefore, move his Amendment.
  LORD CLONBROCK LORD CLONBROCK then moved to amend Sub-section (h) of Clause 4 by adding, after the words, "no excisable liquors shall be sold or supplied for consumption outside the premises of the club," the words, "except between the hours of eight o'clock in the morning and ten o'clock at night to members of the club." He said that as the Bill stood it would be impossible for a member even to get a flask filled before going on a railway journey or for a day's fishing, and he thought that by restricting the hours during which intoxicating liquor could be sold for consumption off the premises all possible objection to the Amendment would be removed.
  Amendment moved—
  "In page 4, line 37, after the word 'club' to insert the words 'except between the hours of eight o'clock in the morning and ten o'clock at night to members of the club.'" —(Lord Clonbrock.)
  THE EARL OF DENBIGHaccepted the Amendment.
  On Question, Amendment agreed to.
  THE EARL OF MAYOhad on the Paper an Amendment to the proviso at the end of Clause 4. The proviso ran—
  "Provided always that this section shall not apply to any lodge of Freemasons duly constituted under a charter or warrant from the Grand Lodge of Ireland."
  The Amendment proposed to add the following words—
  "Or to any society formed for religious, social, philanthropic, or political purposes, where the society only meets as such at stated intervals provided by its rules, and where during the interval between such meetings no exciseable liquors are sold or supplied to its members as such."
  The noble Earl explained that since putting the Amendment on the Paper he had had time to study it closely, and had come to the conclusion that it would raise what would prove a highly contentious question in the other House. In
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  the circumstances, therefore, he thought it would be wiser to withdraw the Amendment for the present; but he reserved to himself the right to bring it up in another form, if thought desirable, at a subsequent stage of the Bill.
  THE ACTING-CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (Lord BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH): Then the noble Earl does not move his Amendment?
  THE EARL OF MAYO THE EARL OF MAYO: No.
  Clause 4, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 5.
  Drafting Amendments agreed to.
  Clause 5, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 6.
  Drafting Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 6, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 7.
  Consequential Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 7, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 8.
  Consequential Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 8, as amended, agreed to.
  Remaining clauses agreed to, and Bill reported, with Amendments, to the House.
  Bill re-committed to the Standing Committee; and to be printed as amended. (No. 146.)

  DEAN FOREST BILL.
  House in Committee (according to order).
  Clauses 1 to 3 agreed to.
  Clause 4.
  THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Marquess of SALISBURY)THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Marquess of SALISBURY) said that the Amendments standing in his name to Clauses 4, 5, and 6 were all of a drafting character,

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  having reference to one particular point. Their Lordships would recollect that in moving the Second Reading of the Bill he explained that the coal field was divided into areas, which were granted to the free miners of the district; but it had been found that there was a part of the deep level which had never been so granted. It did not, therefore, technically come within the term "gale," and the object of the Amendments was to add, after the word "gale," the words "or tract of coal."
  Amendment moved—
  "In page 3, line 27, after the word 'gale' to insert the words 'or tract of coal."—(The Marquess of Salisbury.)
  On Question, Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 4, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 5.
  Verbal Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 5, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 6.
  Verbal Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 6, as amended, agreed to.
  Clauses 7 and 8 agreed to.
  Clause 9.
  THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY explained that this clause provided, inter alia, that the term "galee" included any person holding through or under a galee. It had been found that the words "any person holding through or under" were rather too wide. As the grantee held in fee it was necessary to protect his heirs and assigns, and he moved to omit the words "another person holding through or under" and to insert the words in his Amendment.
  Amendment moved—
  "In page 6, lines 13 and 14, to leave out the words 'any person holding through or under' and to insert the words 'the heirs and assigns of.'"—(The Marquess of Salisbury.)
  On Question, Amendment agreed to.
  Consequential Amendments agreed to.
  Clause 9, as amended, agreed to.
  Clause 10.
  Consequential Amendment agreed to.
  Clause 10, as amended, agreed to.
  Bill reported, with Amendments, to the House.
  Bill re-committed to the Standing Committee; and to be printed as amended. [No. 147.]
  House adjourned at five minutes before Five o'clock, to Monday next, a quarter before Eleven o'clock.