§ [SECOND READING.]
§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading, read.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (Earl CARRINGTON)My Lords, this is simply a Consolidation Bill, and I believe I can confidently and with perfect truth assure the House that it contains no new matter whatever. I therefore trust your Lordships will give the Bill a Second Reading.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(Earl Carrington.)
*THE EARL OF ONSLOWMy Lords, I hope the House will give this Bill a Second Reading. We are greatly indebted to my noble friend for having brought it in, for a Consolidation Bill has been wanted for a long time past. 343 I believe the noble Earl hopes that in that distant day, as we all trust it will be, when his tombstone comes to be engraved, it will have upon it something about farmers' charters and the regeneration of the land; but I am not at all sure that the greatest memorial to his tenure of office will not be the consolidation of the various Acts of Parliament dealing with agricultural holdings. I hope the noble Earl will not ask us to take the next stage of the Bill without a sufficient interval. That remark also applies to the next Bill on the Paper—the Small Holdings and Allotments Bill. It is most desirable that those parts of these Acts with which county councils and valuers have most to do should be grouped together in such a manner that they can be easily dealt with. I shall, at the proper time, be able to show to the noble Earl that there might be a convenient regrouping of some of the clauses of the Bill which would make them more easily administered. Certain doubts have arisen in reference to this subject which may possibly be set at rest by a slight alteration in the order of clauses, and I think there are some cases in which parts of Acts other than those which these Bills propose to consolidate have been introduced. It may be desirable for the sake of clearness that these should be incorporated in the Bill. But I hope that neither the noble Earl nor any other Member of your Lordships' House, will strive to insert in these Bills, which are purely Consolidation Bills, any new matter or any alteration of the law, however desirable, in our opinion, that alteration might be. I am quite certain that to do so would lead to great difficulty in getting the Bill through Parliament. I hope the noble Earl will resist any attempt at amendments in that direction, and I can assure him that he will have my support.
§ On Question, agreed to. Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.