Lords Sitting of 6 April 1908

BARON HOTHAM.
Petition of Frederick William, Baron Hotham, in the Peerage of Ireland, claiming a right to vote at the elections 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 Certificates from the Examiners that the further Standing Orders applicable to the following Bills have been complied with:—Finchley Urban District Council; Bury and District Joint Water Board; Dublin and South-Eastern Railway; Seaham Harbour Dock; City of Glasgow.
The same was ordered to lie on the Table.
Alliance and other Assurance and Insurance Companies Bill [H.L.]; Wath-upon-Dearne Urban District Council Gas Bill [H.L.]. (Petition for additional Provision.)—Examiners' Certificates of non-compliance with the Standing Orders referred to the Standing Orders Committee on Thursday next.
Bognor Gas Light and Coke Company Bill [H.L.].—Reported, with Amendments.
Swansea Valley Gas Bill [H.L.].—Reported from the Select Committee, with Amendments.
Cardiff Railway Bill [H.L.].—Read 3*, and passed, and sent to the Commons.
Hull and Barnsley Railway Bill; Dartford Gas Bill.—Brought from the Commons, read 1*, and referred to the Examiners.
Herne Bay Pier Bill [H.T.].—Returned from the Commons agreed to.

PETITIONS.
  LAND VALUES (SCOTLAND) BILL.
  Petition in favour of: Of Glasgow Liberal Council; read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
  EDUCATION (SCOTLAND).
  Memorandum on nature study and the teaching of science in Scottish schools.
  Correspondence relating to the use of Kingstown Harbour by the vessels of the London and North-Western Railway Company.
  IRISH MAIL SERVICE.
  Correspondence relating to the arrangement made in 1898 for the acceleration of the Irish Day Mail Service, and the revision of the same in the present year.
  TRADE REPORTS: ANNUAL SERIES.
  No. 3968. Belgium (Antwerp).
  INDIA (USE OF GOVERNMENT CHURCHES IN INDIA).
  Papers relating to the use for Presbyterian services of garrison churches in India which have been consecrated for the services of the Church of England.
  ARMY.
  Approximate estimate of expenditure under the Military Works Acts of 1897, 1899, 1901, and 1903.

  IRISH LAND COMMISSION (RULES).
  Rules dated 26th March, 1908, supplemental to and amending the Rules dated 16th March, 1897, 19th March, 1900, 17th May, 1901, 14th March, 1902, and (provisional rules), 4th December, 1903.
  Presented (by command), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  CRIMINAL APPEAL (RULES, 1908).
  Additional rule made, with the approval of the Lord Chancellor, by the

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  Lord Chief Justice and the Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeal.

  SUPERANNUATION.
  Treasury Minutes, dated 3rd April, 1908, declaring that: (1) Samuel Shannon, artificer, Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield; (2) George G. Bishop, lad, Royal Gun Factory, Woolwich, were appointed without Civil Service certificates through inadvertence on the pact of the heads of their respective departments.

  GOVERNMENT INSURANCES AND ANNUITIES.
  Account of all moneys received on account of contracts for the grant of deferred life annuities and for payments on death, and of the disposal thereof; and of the contracts made for the year ended 31st December, 1907.
  Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

LOTTERIES AND INDECENT ADVERTISEMENTS.
Message from the Commons that they have ordered that the Committee appointed by them to join with the Committee of this House to consider and inquire into the law on the said subject, do meet the Lords Committee in the Chairman of Committee's Committee Room, To-morrow at Three o'clock, as proposed by their Lordships.
COMMITTEE OF SELECTION.
Leave given to the Committee of Selection to report from time to time. First Report with an Appendix made, and to be printed. (No. 47.)
STANDING COMMITTEE.
Report from the Committee of Selection for the Standing Committee that they have added the Earl of Stamford to the Standing Committee. Read, and ordered to lie on the Table.

THE RESIGNATION OF THE PRIME MINISTER.
THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Marquess of RIPON): My Lords, it is my sad task to inform your Lordships that the Prime Minister has considered it his
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duty, owing to the prolongation of his grave illness, to resign his office, and that the King, under the circumstances, has been graciously pleased to accept his resignation. I am sure that all your Lordships will share my deep regret that the career of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister should be thus suddently brought to a close. This is not the occasion to recount his services to the country or his claim to public gratitude. His short career as head of the Government has been remarkable for the singular influence which he obtained over the House of Commons. Other eminent statesmen have exercised great influence in that Assembly, none more so in recent years than Mr. Gladstone. But Mr. Gladstone's power was based upon his commanding eloquence and his vast experience of public affairs, and was mingled, if I mistake not, with a certain feeling of awe; whereas the influence of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was, if I may say so, of a tenderer kind. His perfect temper, his earnest sympathy with the feelings and principles of his Party, his unfailing courtesy to his opponents gave him an unrivalled hold on the most critical Assembly in the world. By these qualities and by their results he will be best remembered by the public. But we who have been his colleagues for two years and a half are bound to him by yet closer ties; for his constant fairness, his untiring patience, and his considerate guidance have won for him the gratitude and affection of all those whom he associated with himself in the immense responsibilities attaching to the Government of this great Empire. I ought to say that, after the Army (Annual) Bill has been read a third time and passed, I propose to move that this House do adjourn until Tuesday, the 14th of this month. It is proposed to meet then in order that the Royal Assent may be given to the Army (Annual) Bill. That, I think, is in accordance with precedent. The Government is no longer constitutionally in existence. The retirement of the Prime Minister puts an end in that sense to the Government of the time; and I do not think that any persons holding their office on so slight a tenure ought to take on themselves the conduct of any important business in Parliament.
THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE: My Lords, the noble Marquess need not be afraid that any jarring note will be sounded upon this side of the House. We all of us greatly regret that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, owing to considerations of health, should find it necessary to vacate a position which he has earned by many years of honourable exertion, and without any adventitious aids. He has filled that position, as we know, to the entire satisfaction of his own followers; and he has filled it not only without giving offence to his opponents, but in such a manner as to attract to himself a great deal of sympathy and admiration on account of that invariable good temper and courtesy to which the noble Marquess referred just now, and on account of his sound knowledge of our Parliamentary traditions. We all of us sympathised with Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman when last year his health broke down, partly, no doubt, owing to an overwhelming private sorrow, partly owing to the strain and stress of official life. We all of us rejoiced when for a time he was able to resume the burden of office and of public work; and now we all of us feel for him when the moment has come when he finds it inevitable that he should lay aside that burden. It is, I may say, the universal hope of this House that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman may be spared to enjoy during the declining years of his life a share of that repose for which we know he has so often yearned, and to which, I am afraid, he has been so complete a stranger.

ARMY (ANNUAL) BILL.
Read 3a, and passed.

ADJOURNMENT.
THE MARQUESS OF RIPON: My Lords, I move that this House do now adjourn until Tuesday, 14th April. I may as well say that after that formal meeting I shall propose that the House do adjourn until Tuesday, 5th May, as originally proposed.
House adjourned at twenty minutes before Five o'clock, till Tuesday, 14th April.