Lords Sitting of 28 February 1905

PRIVATE BILL BUSINESS.
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:—Metropolitan and Great Central Railway Companies [H.L.]; Southend and Colchester Light Railways [H.L.]; County of London Electric Supply Company [H.L.]; Dearne Valley Railway [H.L.].
The same were ordered to lie on the Table.

BARRYMORE ESTATE.
Petition of the right hon. Arthur Hugh Baron Barrymore, praying leave to introduce a Bill "To enable the Baron Barrymore to restore certain forfeited leases in the town of Tipperary, and for other purposes"; together with a copy of the proposed Bill annexed thereto; read, and referred to the Examiners.
Clyde Navigation (Reconstitution) Bill [H.L.]. Presented, and read la.
Cardiff Railway Bill [H.L.]. Read 2a; and committed. The Committee to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.
Hastings Harbour District Railway (Abandonment) Bill. Read 2a; and committed.
Rhymney Railway Bill [H.L.]; Commercial Union Assurance Bill [H.L.]; Clyde Navigation Bill [H.L.]. Read 2a, and committed. The Committees to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
  ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION.
  Fifty-seventh Report from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England; with an Appendix. Presented (by Command), and ordered to lie on the Table.
  PIERS AND HARBOURS (PROVISIONAL ORDERS).
  Report by the Board of Trade of their proceedings under the General Pier and Harbour Act, 1861, and the General Pier and Harbour Act, 1861, Amendment Act. Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.
  NAVAL WORKS (PORTSMOUTH BAR- RACKS SITE) BILL [H.L.]
  Report from His Majesty's Attorney-General received, and ordered to lie on the Table.

  STREET BETTING BILL [H.L.]
  [SECOND READING.]
  Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
  LORD DAVEY: My Lords, this is identically the same Bill as was passed through your Lordships' House last session, after having been extensively amended at the suggestion of the Government. It is unnecessary, therefore, for me to trouble you with a speech on this occasion. I will merely briefly remind your Lordships that the object of the Bill is to render betting in streets and public places a statutory offence, instead of its being left, as at present, to be dealt with by municipal by-laws. It also increases the penalties which may be imposed on persons found betting in the streets, and for a third offence enables the magistrates to imprison an offender. Since the Bill was before your Lordships I have had a great many communications from magistrates and other people in different parts of the country urging that the Bill should be proceeded with as a very necessary measure. I will not trouble your Lordships by reading all the communications I have received, because it would be a little monotonous,but I will quote some statistics which have been sent to me from Stockton-on-Tees. In that town on one day eighteen so-called commission agents were brought before the magistrates for bookmaking, and of that number one had been convicted thirty times, one twenty-three times, one twenty times, one seventeen times, one sixteen times, two fifteen times,

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  two fourteen times, and so on. One would scarcely believe that such a record could be furnished in one Police Court, and the writer of the extract I have in my hand concludes by stating that—
  "The convicted person pays the fine with a smile on his face, as much as to say to the presiding magistrate, 'It is all right, old man, so long as I know you cannot increase the penalty or send me to prison.'"
  My Lords, that is exactly what is proposed to be done by this Bill. I cannot pretend that the Bill can be passed through the House of Commons without the assistance of the Government, and as it is substantially the Bill of the Government, all their Amendments having been embodied in it, I hope I may claim some assistance from the Government in passing it through the other House.
  Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(Lord Davey.)
  On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.

  CONGESTED DISTRICTS (SCOTLAND) BILL, [H.L.]
  [SECOND READING.]
  Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
  THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (The Marquess of LINLITHGOW): My Lords, the Bill which I now ask you to read a second time seeks to enlarge the powers of the Congested Districts Board for Scotland. Section 4 of the original Act of 1897 confers upon the Board certain powers of expenditure of money placed at their disposal, but eight years experience has proved that those powers are insufficient. So long ago as the year 1899 my noble friend Lord Balfour of Burleigh introduced and passed through your Lordships' House a somewhat similar Bill to the one which I now present to you. It went to the House of Commons but did not obtain a Second Reading there. In the year 1893, and again in 1894, a similar measure was introduced into the House of Commons, but did not reach its Second Reading. The provisions of this Bill are briefly these; to enable the Board to make
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  provision for the practical instruction of youths and girls in agriculture, trades, and other industries within the congested districts. Boys are to be taught seamenship, carpentering, tailoring, and other trades, and girls cooking, laundry work, and housework, so that they may be turned out into the world useful citizens, not forgetting, of course, that this practical instruction should only be supplementary in all cases to the ordinary school course. The second provision is to permit grants in aid of public health objects to be given to hospitals, and in respect of medical attendance and nursing in districts where the full statutory public health rate his already been levied or where the burden of general rating is oppressive and local resources are exhausted. In the third place it provides that advances are to be made for the improvement of existing and the erection of new dwellings. The Board are confident that if these powers are granted they will greatly accelerate the improvement which is already showing itself amongst the people in the congested districts. I ought to mention that the Board are by this measure restricted to devoting a maximum of one-fifth of the whole of their funds to the new objects under the Bill. I trust that your Lordships will pass the Bill and that before the end of the session it will become law, for it is a very necessary piece of legislation.
  Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Marquess of Linlithgow.)
  On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the whole House on Monday next.

  RESERVE FORCES BILL [H.L.]
  House in Committee (according to order).
  [The Earl of ONSLOW in the Chair.]
  Bill reported without Amendment.
  THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (The Earl of DONOUGHMORE): My Lords, this Bill is in the same form in which it passed your Lordships' House last year, and, as I have said, it embodies

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  the Amendments suggested by the noble Lord opposite (Lord Monkswell). I would therefore ask your Lordships to negative the Standing Committee.
  Moved, "That the Standing Committee be negatived."—(The Earl of Donoughmore).
  LORD MONKSWELL: I offer no objection to the Motion.
  On Question, Standing Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a on Thursday next.
  House adjourned at twenty minutes before Five o'clock, to Thursday next half-past Ten o'clock.