LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGHMy Lords, I have to ask your Lordships to agree to the Amendments to the Standing Orders which appear in my name on the Paper. I think a short explanation is due to the House, having regard to the postponement of this notice for some days. It was a matter of conversation between myself and the noble Earl the Chairman of Committees and I undertook to move the Amendments to the Standing Orders in the form in which they were left by my noble friend. In that form they proposed to extend to Ireland the provision which obliges municipal corporations to deposit the estimates of any work they propose to undertake by private Bill or provisional order with the Government offices concerned. I still adhere to the view that that provision ought to be extended to Ireland, and I understood it was practically agreed that it should be so extended. But since my noble friend the Chairman of Committees has gone away, representations have been made to the Chairman of Committees in the House of Commons by hon. Gentlemen from Ireland objecting to the proposed extension, and as it is not customary to make alterations in the Standing Orders of the House of Commons so near the end of the session, the Chairman of Committees in the other House has resolved not to press the matter at this moment, but in all probability he 1371 will renew it at an early period in another session of Parliament. In these circumstances, although we have not the same understanding here, I think your Lordships will agree that this House should not make a change in the Standing Orders which would make them different from those of the House of Commons except for grave reason. I am of opinion that, in all the circumstances, it is advisable to postpone making the change for another year, and therefore I have not renewed the notice as it was left by the Lord Chairman. As I had to act on my own responsibility, I thought it due to your Lordships to make this explanation. I move the Motion in the amended form.
§ Moved, "That the Standing Orders be amended as follows:—Note.—The words struck through are to be omitted, and the words printed in Italics are to be inserted. 30. Where by any Bill power is sought to take or interfere with any churchyard, burial ground, or cemetery, or any part thereof, or to disturb the bodies interred therein, or where power is sought to take any common or commonable land, as the case may be, a copy of so much of the plans, sections, and books of reference required by these Orders to be deposited in the office of the clerk of the Parliaments in respect of such Bill as relates to such churchyard, burial ground, or cemetery, common, or commonable land, shall, on or before the thirtieth day of November, be deposited at the Office of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, and a copy of so much of the said plans, sections, and books of reference as relates to such common or commonable lands shall, on or before the said day, be deposited at the office of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. 134. In the case of any Bill whereby any municipal corporation, district council, improvement commissioners, joint board or joint committee, or other local authority in England or Wales are authorised to borrow money for any purpose within the jurisdiction of the Board of Trade or the Local Government Board, estimates showing the proposed application of the money for permanent works shall, except so far as the exercise of the borrowing power is made subject to the sanction of the 1372 respective Board, be recited in the Bill as introduced into Parliament and proved before the Committee. Copies of the estimates and statements deposited in accordance with Standing Order 36a or under General Order made in pursuance of the Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) Act, 1899, shall be laid before the Committee for the purposes of this Order."—(Lord Balfour of Burleigh).
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.