§ My Ministers have under consideration plans for improving and effecting economies in the system of government in Ireland and for introducing into it means for associating the people with the conduct of Irish affairs. It is my desire that the government of the country, in reliance upon the ordinary law, should be carried on, so far as existing circumstances permit, in a spirit regardful of the wishes and sentiments of the Irish people; and I trust that this may conduce to the maintenance of tranquility and of good feeling between different classes in the community.
§ The social and economic conditions of the rural districts in Great Britain require careful consideration. Inquiries are proceeding as to the means by which a larger number of the population may be attracted to and retained on the soil, and they will be completed at no distant date.
24§ A Bill will be laid before you at the earliest possible moment for amending the existing law with regard to Education in England and Wales.
§ Bills will also be submitted to you for dealing with the law regulating Trade Disputes, and for amending the Workmen's Compensation Acts; for the further Equalisation of Rates in the Metropolis, and for amending the Unemployed Workmen Act.
§ Your attention will also be called to measures dealing with the Merchant Shipping Law, for amending and extending the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, for amending the Labourers (Ireland) Act, for checking commercial corruption, for improving the law regarding certain Colonial Marriages, for abolishing the property qualification required of County Justices in England, and for the prevention of plural voting in Parliamentary Elections.
§ Your labours upon these and upon all other matters I humbly commend to the blessing of Almighty God."
§ Several Lords took the oath.
§ The Lord Leigh sat first in Parliament after the death of his father.
§ Several Lords took the oath.
§ The right hon. Sir William Hood Walrond, baronet, having been created Baron Waleran of Uffculme, in the county of Devon, was (in the usual manner) introduced.
§ Philip James Stanhope, esquire, commonly called the hon. Philip James Stanhope, having been created Baron Weardale of Stanhope, in the county of Durham, was (in the usual manner) introduced.
§ Charles Lord Bishop of Birmingham, was (in the usual manner) introduced.
§ Several Lords took the oath.
§ The Earl Cairns sat first in Parliament after the death of his brother.
§ Several Lords took the oath.