Lords Sitting of 22 March 1904

MARQUESS OF SLIGO.
Ordered, That the Report of the Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom, made to the House of Lords on Friday last, that the right of the Marquess of Sligo to vote at the elections of Representative Peers for Ireland has been established to his satisfaction, be sent to the Clerk of the Crown in Ireland, together with a certificate stating that such Report has been made, and that the House has ordered it to be sent to the said Clerk of the Crown in Ireland.

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 further Standing Orders applicable to the following Bills have been complied with:—Corbridge Gas; Great Eastern Railway (Steamboats). The same were ordered to lie on the Table.
Marylebone Chapels (Saint James, Westmoreland Street) Bill [H.L.]. Committed.
Tyneside Tramways and Tramroads Bill [H.L.]. Reported from the Select Committee, with Amendments.
Site for Duke of York's School Bill [H.L.]. Reported, with Amendments, and commit red to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.
New River Comp my Bill [HL.]; York Town and Blackwater Gas Bill [H.L.]; Southend Water Bill; Barnard Castle Gas Bill [H.L.]; Elysée Palace Hotel Company Bill [H.L] West Metropolitan. Railway (Abandonment) Bill [H.L.]; Victoria University of Yorkshire Bill [H.L.]; Nuneaton and Chilvers Coton Urban District Council Bill [H.L.]; Ticehurst and District Water and Gas Bill [H.L.]; Hudder-field Corporation Act, 1902 (Amendment) Bill [H.L.]; Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company Bill [H.L.]. Reported, with Amendments.
Gosport Water Bill [H.L.]. Reported from the Select Committee, with Amendments.
Whitby Gas Bill; Hampton-in-Arden Gas Bill. Read 2ª, and committed.
Tynemouth Gas Bill [H.L.]. Read 3ª, and passed, and sent to the Commons.
Preston, Chorley, and Horwich Tramways Bill [H.L.]. Read 3, Amendments made; Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.
Metropolitan Common Scheme (Hillingdon East) Provisional Order Bill. Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; to be printed; and referred to the Examiners. (No. 35.)
Littlestone-on-Sea and District Water Bill; South Shields Gas Bill. Brought from the Commons; read 1ª; and referred to the Examiners.
Bridlington Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Bristol Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Ebbw Vale Urban District Water Bill [H.L.); Harrogate Waterworks Tramroad Bill [H.L.]; Leeds Corporation (Waterworks) Railway Bill [H L.]; Llanelly Harbour Bill [H.L.]; Belfast Corporation (Tramways) Bill [H.L.]; Holywood Tramways Bill [H.L.]; Metropolitan District Railway Bill [H.L.]. Report from the Committee of Selection, That the following Lords be proposed to the House to Form the Select Committee for the consideration of the said Bills; (viz.)—

E. Craven,

L. Shute (V. Barrington),

E. Camperdown (chairman),

L. Biddulph;

L. Boston,

agreed to; and the said Lords appointed accordingly. The Committee to meet on Thursday the 21st of April next at Eleven o'clock; and all petitions referred to the Committee, with leave to the petitioners praying to be hoard by counsel against the Bills to be heard as desired, as also counsel for the Bills.
Ulster Electric Bower Bill [H.L.]; Lancashire Electric Power Bill [H.L.]; Lothians Electric Bower Bill [H.L.]; Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Electric Bower Bill [H.L.]; Belfast and North-East Ireland Electricity and Bower Gas Bill [H.L.] Clyde Valley Electrical

375
Power Bill [H.L.]; Buxton Urban District Council Bill [H.L.]; Derwent Valley Water Board Bill [H.L.]. Report from the Committee of Selection, That the following Lords be proposed to the House to form the Select Committee for the consideration of the said Bills; (viz.)—

E. Lauderdale (chairman),

L. Monteagle of Brandon,

E. Beauchamp,

L. Estcourt;

L. Saltoun,

agreed to; and the said Lords appointed accordingly. The Committee to meet on Thursday the 21st of April next at Eleven o'clock; and all petitions referred to the Committee, with leave to the petitioners praying to be heard by counsel against the Bills to be heard as desired, as also counsel for the Bills.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
  COMMERCIAL, No. 3 (1904).
  Reports on the constitution and functions of Ministries of Commerce or analagous branches of Foreign Ad ministrations (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, Commercial, No. 12 (1889) [Cd. 5674]. Presented (by Command), and ordered to lie on the Table.

NAVAL PRIZE BILL [H.L.]
[SECOND READING.]
Order of the day for the Second Reading read.
THE LORD CHANCELLOR (The Earl of HALSBURY): My Lords, two years ago this Bill was passed through all its stages in your Lordships' House, but since then nothing has been heard of it, and I conclude that it must have dropped out at the end of the session without being noticed. The measure is agreed to on both sides of the House. I desire now to make a further attempt to get it passed into law. The Bill is in a great measure a Consolidation Bill. The Admiralty are desirous of putting a new naval guide at the disposal of officers in the Navy and this Bill relates to a region in which it is desirable that the law should be consolidated.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 2ª.— (The Lord Chancellor.)
LORD ALVERSTONE: My Lords, I was unaware until I came down, to the House to-day that this Bill was on the Paper, but I should like to say a few words in its support. I consider it to be extremely important that this Bill should be passed. At the outbreak of the South African War, when I was Attorney-General, it was found that virtually the rules and practice of the various prize Courts had not been considered for twenty-five or thirty years from the point of view of putting them on an organised basis. I know by personal knowledge, from communications made to me during the last two or three years by those who have been concerned in the drafting of the Bill, which was commenced during the time I was Attorney General, that there is the greatest need for the measure, and I trust your Lordships will pass it and that it will become law this session.
On Question, Bill read 2ª and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.

THE VOLUNTEERS—ALLOWANCES.
THE EARL OF STRADBROKE: My Lords, I rise to ask the Under-Secretary of State for War if he can hold out any hopes that the allowance of 2s. 6d. per day for Volunteers attending regimental camps will be increased or if separation allowances will be granted to married Volunteers attending these camps. Your Lordships are aware of the difficulties that officers in Volunteer Corps have experienced in taking the requisite number of men into camp, and I venture to think that, if the allowance was increased or a separation allowance granted to married Volunteers attending the regimental camps, Commanding Officers would be relieved of a considerable amount of anxiety, and the force generally would be rendered more efficient by better attendance in camp. Not only are the men called upon to give up a considerable amount of their leisure time to attend drills and parades in the afternoon and evening, but they are also called upon to attend camp on six consecutive days, at least every alternate year. This means a considerable sacrifice of time to the Volunteers, and it must be borne in

377
mind that during the period they are in camp they do not earn any wages. It is therefore a considerable pecuniary sacrifice that they are called upon to make. In some cases, however, employers are so patriotic that they not only offer every opportunity they can to men to attend camp, but pay their wages during the time they are in camp. I am aware that the Army Estimates have been presented, and that the noble Earl, the Under-Secretary of State for War, may say he is unable to undertake anything that would entail any great increase in expenditure; but I trust that even if the first part of my Question meets with a negative reply the second part may be more fortunate. We are aware that a Royal Commission is sitting at the present moment on the question of the Auxiliary Forces, and that it will presumably report during this session; but, whatever their Report may be, I conclude that Volunteer camps will be held this year as usual, and that it will be necessary for at least 50 per cent, of the Volunteers to attend. I have referred to the sacrifices that the Volunteers are called upon to make, but the loss of money presses most heavily en the married Volunteers; and therefore I think it would be well if the War Office could see their way to grant them separation allowances. The cost to the country would not be very large, and it would enable many men who at present do not feel able to attend the camps to do so. This is the time when camps are being arranged for, and if the noble Earl could see his way to give a favourable answer to my Question I am sure a good many men who are now hesitating as to whether or not they can attend camp, will decide to do so. On this ground, and with the view of encouraging the greatest possible number of Volunteers to attend the camps during this summer, I would urge the noble Earl to give a favourable answer at least to the second part of my Question.
THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (The Earl of DONOUGHMORE): My Lords, I can assure the noble Earl that my colleagues on the Army Council fully share the anxiety of all commanding officers to get their
378
men to attend camp. We recognise that there are great difficulties in the way, and we fully appreciate the efforts that are made by commanding officers to carry out the regulations. The noble Earl has suggested two alternatives which I have no doubt would be of great use in this direction. With regard to the first, he has pointed out that the Army Estimates have been introduced and that there is no provision in them for raising the camp allowance; and I would remind the noble Earl that the same difficulty applies to the second alternative with regard to the granting of separation allowances, for it would equally involve a very considerable charge on the Estimates. The fact that the Army Estimates have already been introduced in another place constitutes a difficulty in the way of the immediate adoption of either of the alternatives proposed. It is not, however, on this technical objection that I mainly rely in refusing the noble Earl's request. As he has pointed out, a Royal Commission is now considering the whole question of the Volunteers, and pending their Report it would scarcely be advisable for the War Office to carry out either of these alternatives, which would involve a great departure from the established practice.

PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO CHILDREN (AMENDMENT) BILL [H.L.]
Read 3a (according to order); Amendments (Privilege) made; Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.
House adjourned at twenty minutes before Five o'clock, to Thursday next, half-past Ten o'clock,