Lords Sitting of 26 March 1906

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 a with: Folkestone, Sandgate, and Hythe Tramways (No. 1) [H.L.].
The same was ordered to lie on the Table.
Barry Railway Bill [H.L.]. A witness ordered to attend the Select Committee.
Essex and Suffolk Equitable Insurance Society Bill [H.L.]. Reported from the Select Committee, with Amendments.
Folkestone, Sandgate, and Hythe Tramways (No. 1) Bill [H.L.]. Read 2a, and committed. The Committee to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.
Glamorgan and South Wales Water Bill [H.L.]. Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Staffordshire Electric Power Bill [H.L.]. Read 2a (according to order), and committed. The Committee to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.
Kent Electric Power Bill [H.L.] Read. 2a (according to order), and committed. The Committee to be proposed by the Committee of Selection.
Vauclain's Patent Bill [H.L.]; Antofagasta (Chili) and Bolivia Railway Bill [H.L.]. Read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.
Hull Joint Dock Bill [H.L.]. Read 3a. An amendment made. Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.
Penllwyn Railway and Road Bill [H.L.]; London and North Western Railway Bill [H.L.]; Great Western and Rhymney Railway Companies Bill [H.L.]; Barry Railway Bill [H.L.]; Western Valleys (Monmouthshire) Sewerage
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Board Bill [H.L.]; Cardiff Railway Bill [H.L.]. Report from the Committee of Selection, That the Lord Belhaven and Stenton be proposed to the House as a member of the Select Committee on the said Bills in the place of the Earl of Verulam; read, and agreed to.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
  EDUCATION (SCOTLAND).
  Minute of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland, dated March 19th, 1906, providing for the distribution of the general aid grant.

  TRADE REPORTS (ANNUAL SERIES).
  No. 3538. Russia (Trade and agriculture, Poland and Lithuania).
  No. 3539. United States.
  No. 3540. Brazil (Trade for the year 1904).

  Correspondence relating to elementary education in Ceylon.
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND).
  Return of the areas, population, and valuation of counties, burghs and parishes in Scotland.
  POLICE (SCOTLAND).
  Forty-eighth Annual Report of His Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland, for the year ended December 31st, 1905.

  TURKEY, No. 1 (1906).
  Further correspondence respecting the affairs of South-eastern Europe. (In continuation of "Turkey, No. 3. (1905).")
  Presented (by command), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  SUPERANNUATION.
  Treasury Minute, dated March 19th, 1906, declaring Changsha to be an unhealthy place within the meaning of the Superannuation Act, 1876.

  SEA AND COAST FISHERIES FUND (IRELAND) (NON-CONGESTED DISTRICTS).
  Account for the year ended December 31st, 1905.
  Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  PRIVATE AND PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION BILLS.
  Moved, "That no Private Bill brought from the House of Commons shall be read a second time after Tuesday the 19th day of June next. That no Provisional Order Confirmation Bill originating in this House shall be read a first time after Thursday the 3rd day of May next. That no Provisional Order Confirmation Bill brought from the House of Commons shall be read a second time after Tuesday the 19th day of June next. That when a Bill shall have passed this House with Amendments these orders shall not apply to any new Bill sent up from the House of Commons which the Chairman of Committees shall report to the House is substantially the same as the Bill so amended. That this House will not receive any petition for a Private Bill later than Thursday the 3rd day of May next, unless such Private Bill shall have been approved by the High Court of Justice; nor any petition for a Private Bill approved by the High Court of Justice after Tuesday, the 8th day of May next. That this House will not receive any report from the Judges upon petitions presented to this House for Private Bills after Tuesday the 8th day of May next."—(The Earl of Onslow.)
  On Question, Motion agreed to.

  COMMITTEE OF SELECTION.
  THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (The Earl of ONSLOW): My Lords, in accordance with what I said to your Lordships three or four days ago with reference to strengthening the Committee of Selection, I now move that the Lords named on the Paper be added to the Committee.
  Moved, That the Lords following be added to the Committee, viz.—

  M. Ripon. (Lord Privy Seal.)

  E. Rosse.

  E. Camperdown.

  D. Bedford.

  L. Balfour.

  D. Northumberland.

  L. Brougham and Vaux

  M. Lansdowne.

  E. Lauderdale.

  L. Newton.

  —(The Earl of Onslow.)

  On Question, Motion agreed to.

  PATENTS, DESIGNS, AND TRADE MARKS (REGISTRATION OF PATENT AGENTS) BILL [H.L.]
  [SECOND READING.]
  Order of the day for the Second Reading read.
  LORD COLERIDGE: My Lords, the Act of 1888, which my Bill seeks to amend, was passed in consequence of the Report of a Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Trade, which recommended that a register should be instituted of patent agents, and that the Board of Trade should have the power to erase the names of those who were proved by a committee appointed by them to have been guilty of disgraceful professional conduct. The Act provided that no person should practice as a patent agent, or, rather, that no person should use the words "patent agent," unless he was registered as such; and the result of that was that a number of persons, some of whom had been actually struck off the register for disgraceful professional conduct, continued to practice as before by the mere substitution of titles like "patent expert" and "inventors' agent," and the object of the Act, which was to protect inventors, was largely frustrated. In consequence, a Bill—practically my Bill—was introduced into the House of Commons in 1894, and it there passed its Second Reading and was referred to a Select Committee. The Select Committee passed unanimously the clause which is the substantive clause in my Bill, and then the general election came, and the Bill, like many others, went into limbo and was not heard of again.

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  Last year I introduced the Bill into your Lordships' House, and it was read a second time. It proceeded no further owing to certain objections being taken to it in detail, but those objections I have largely met by adding this year a clause providing that all existing interests shall be preserved, which I think is quite fair and right. I now ask the House to give the Bill a Second Reading, as it did last year, and if there are any objections to it they can be dealt with in Committee. The principle of the Bill has been affirmed by both Houses of Parliament, and the measure meets a want largely felt by the profession.
  Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a." —(Lord Coleridge.)
  THE EARL OF GRANARD: My Lords, I have to say, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, that they have no objection to the Second Reading of this Bill. His Majesty's Government, however, reserve to themselves the right of moving any Amendments which they may think desirable when the Bill reaches the Committee stage.
  On Question, Bill read 2a and committed to a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow.

  CRIMINAL APPEAL BILL [H.L.]
  Order of the day for the Second Reading read.
  THE LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord LOREBURN): My Lords, there has been some little misunderstanding in this important Bill's being put down for Second Reading without adequate notice. I propose, therefore, to postpone the Second Reading until to-morrow. I think that will meet the convenience of those of your Lordships who take an interest in this question.
  Order for Second Reading postponed till to-morrow.
  House adjourned at twenty minutes before Five o'clock, till To-morrow, half-past Ten o'clock.