Lords Sitting of 22 June 1915

Preamble
The Lord MERTHYR—Sat first in Parliament after the death of his father.
The Lord WENLOCK—Sat first in Parliament after the death of his brother.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR.
THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE: My Lords, in the absence of the noble Marquess who leads the House I have to acquaint your Lordships that His Majesty has been pleased to create the Right Honourable Sir Stanley Owen Buckmaster, Knight, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, a Peer of this Realm by the title of Baron Buckmaster of Cheddington, in the County of Buckingham.
His Lordship, having retired to robe, was (in the usual manner) introduced.
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:

London County Council (Tramways and Improvements).

Weardale and Consett Water.

The same were ordered to lie on the Table.

NOTTINGHAM CORPORATION (TRENT NAVIGATION TRANSFER) BILL.
A Witness ordered to attend the Select Committee.
EDUCATION BOARD PROVISIONAL ORDERS CONFIRMATION (LONDON) BILL. [H.L.]
The CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES informed the House that the opposition to the No. 1 Order was withdrawn: The orders made on the 3rd and 9th instant respecting the commitment of the Bill to a Select Committee in regard to the said Order discharged, Committee on the Bill to meet on Tuesday next.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 1) BILL.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 3) BILL.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 4) BILL.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 7) BILL.
CONWAY FISHERIES PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL.
SEA FISHERIES (CARDIGAN BAY) PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL.
SEA FISHERIES (POOLE) PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL.
Reported, without amendment, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow.

TRAMWAYS PROVISIONAL ORDERS BILL.
Reported, with Amendments, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow.
CHELMSFORD CORPORATION GAS BILL.
  LURGAN URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL BILL.
  Reported, with Amendments.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 2) BILL.
Reported, with an Amendment, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow.
PORT OF LONDON AUTHORITY BILL. [H.L.]
Read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.
METHODIST CHURCH IN IRELAND BILL.
  AMMANFORD URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL BILL.
    FRIENDS' PROVIDENT INSTITUTION BILL.
    Read 3a, with the Amendments, and passed, and returned to the Commons.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 6) BILL.
Brought from the Commons; read la; to be printed; and referred to the Examiners. (No. 95.)
HIGHLAND RAILWAY ORDER CONFIRMATION BILL. [H.L.]
Returned from the Commons, agreed to.
BRISTOL TRAMWAYS BILL. [H.L.]
Returned from the Commons, agreed to, with an Amendment: The said Amendment considered, and agreed to.
HALIFAX CORPORATION BILL. [H.L.]
  SHEFFIELD CORPORATION (TRAMWAYS) BILL. [H.L.]
    WEST GLOUCESTERSHIRE WATER BILL. [H.L.]
    Returned from the Commons, agreed to, with Amendments: The said Amendments considered, and agreed to.

RETURNS, REPORTS, ETC.
Colonies (Annual)—No. 843. Zanzibar (Report for 1914):
British South Africa Company—Supplemental Charter to the British South Africa Company, dated 13th March 1915:
Miscellaneous—
No. 12 (1915). The treatment of prisoners of war in England and Germany during the first eight months of the war;
No. 13 (1915). Report from the United States Ambassador at Berlin, dated 8th June 1915, on the conditions at present existing at the Internment Camp at Ruhleben:
Trade—Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions, 1914, compared with the four preceding years; compiled in the Statistical Office of the Customs and Excise Department. Volume I:
National Education (Ireland)—Appendix. Section I, to the Annual Report of the Commissioners for the year 1913–1914:
Bermuda War Contribution—Treasury Minute, dated 1st June 1915, showing the manner in which instalments of the Bermuda War Contribution will be applied:
Intoxicating Liquors (Restrictions in Foreign Countries during War)—Correspondence relative to the measures taken in certain foreign countries for the restriction of the sale of intoxicating liquors since the outbreak of war:
Irish Land Commission (Proceedings)—Return for the month of February 1915
Light Railways Acts, 1896 and 1912—Order made by the Light Railway Commissioners, and confirmed by the Board of Trade, entitled the North Lindsey Light Railways (Amendment) Order, 1915:
Aliens Act, 1905—
Part I. A statement with regard to the Expulsion of Aliens;
Part II. Ninth Annual Report of His Majesty's Inspector under the Act for the year 1914:
Presented (by command) and ordered to lie on the Table.
Public Works Loan Board—Fortieth Annual Report of the Public Works Loan Board, 1914–1915, with Appendices:
Penal Servitude Acts, 1853–1891 (Conditional Licence)—Licence granted to a convict discharging her from Aylesbury Convict Prison on condition that she enters a home:
Shops Act, 1912—Orders made by the County Council of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and confirmed by the Secretary of State for the Home Department affecting certain classes of shops within the following areas—

1. Sowerby Bridge Urban District;

2. Sowerby Bridge and Luddendenfoot Urban District:

Dockyard Ports Regulation Act, 1865—Order in Council, dated 16th June 1915, relating to the Dockyard Ports of Chatham and Sheerness:
Laid before the House (pursuant to Act) and ordered to lie on the Table.

KILMARNOCK GAS ORDER CONFIRMATION BILL. [H.L.]
  IRVINE AND DISTRICT WATER BOARD (EMERGENCY POWERS) ORDER CONFIRMATION BILL. [H.L.]
  Read 3a (according to Order), and passed, and sent to de Commons.

PORT-GLASGOW GAS AND BURGH EXTENSION ORDER CONFIRMATION BILL. [H.L.]
Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a. (Lord Stanmore.)
On Question, Bill read 3a.
Clause 36:
Power to deal in gas fittings, &c.
36.—(1) The Town Council may sell purchase acquire supply let for hire fix repair alter and remove and contract for doing work in connection with (but shall not manufacture) engines stoves ranges pipes and other gas fittings for lighting motive heating ventilating cooking or any other purposes (all of which are hereinafter in this section included in the expression "fittings") and may provide all materials and work necessary or proper in that behalf and with respect thereto may demand and take such remuneration or rents and charges and make such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon.
(2) Any fittings let on hire under the provisions of this section shall not be subject to poinding or to the landlord's hypothee or remedy for rent or be liable to diligence under any process of law or any proceedings against the person in whose possession the same may be in the event of his bankruptcy or insolvency and such fittings notwithstanding that they be fixed or fastened to any part of any premises in which they may be situate or to the soil under any such premises shall at all times continue to be the property of and be removable by the Town Council Provided that such fittings are marked or impressed with a sufficient mark or brand indicating the Town Council as the actual owners thereof.
(3) Provided as follows:

(A) The Town Council shall so adjust the, charges to be made by them for any such fittings or for the fixing repairing or removal thereof as to meet any expenditure by them under the powers of this section in connexion therewith (including interest upon moneys borrowed for those purposes and all sums applied to sinking fund for repayment of moneys so borrowed):

(B) Every sum charged by the Town Council in respect of the provision of such fittings or the fixing repairing or removal thereof shall be separately stated on every demand note delivered by the Town Council to the consumer:

(c) The total sums expended and received by the Town Council in connexion with the purposes in this section mentioned in each year (including interest and sinking fund) shall be separately shown in the published accounts of the gas undertaking of the Town Council for that year.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 30 of the Act of 1865 the Town Council shall not manufacture fittings.
Amendments moved—
Clause 36, page 16, line 28 [subsection (1)], leave out ("sell purchase") and insert ("purchase sell"), and leave out ("acquire supply")
Clause 36, page 16, line 29, leave out ("alter")
Clause 36, page 16, lines 29 and 30, leave out ("and contract for doing work in connection with")
Clause 36, after line 37 insert:
"(2) The Town Council may enter into contracts for the execution of any of the powers of this section and shall not themselves lay any pipes on the consumer's premises except between the main of the Town Council and the consumer's meter and except pipes necessary to connect any fittings to existing pipes on such premises nor shall they sell any fittings except through a contractor."
Clause 36, page 17, lines 3 to 7, leave out from ("insolvency") to ("Provided").—Lord Stanmore.)
On Question, Amendments agreed to.
Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.

MASSY'S DIVORCE BILL. [H.L.]
House in Committee (according to Order): Amendments made: The Report of Amendments to be received To-morrow.

THE MILK AND DAIRIES ACT, 1914.
LORD STRACHIE LORD STRACHIE had the following Question on the Paper—
"To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will postpone the coming into operation of the Milk and Dairies Act, 1914, till next year; and whether the Local Government Board are willing, as requested by the Bath and West Agricultural Society, the British Dairy Farmers Association, and the Rural District Councils Association, to consult those bodies before making any Orders under the above Act."
The noble Lord said: I desire only to put the latter part of my Question, because in another place a Bill has already been introduced suspending the operation of the Milk and Dairies Act of last session.
LORD HYLTON: In answer to my noble friend I can assure him that the Local Government Board will take care that the various societies and associations referred to in his Question are given an ample opportunity of considering any new Regulations under the Act before they are officially settled.

MILK PROSECUTIONS.
LORD STRACHIE: My Lords, I beg to ask His Majesty's Government whether the Home Office has had its attention called to the case of Mr. Turner, of Clays Hill Farm, Lavenham, who, though not convicted, was ordered to pay 9s. as costs; whether the milk taken from a can in the presence of a Police Inspector was certified by the analyst to contain 5¾ per cent. of added water.
THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTON): My Lords, I will give the reply which has been furnished me by the Department. The attention of the Home Office was directed to the case of Mr. Turner by the British Dairy Farmers Association, who made an application that the costs might be remitted. Their communication, however, did not contain, as it professed to do, any report of what passed at the hearing, so that the Home Office is not in possession of the facts of the case and it has no information as to the last point mentioned in the noble Lord's Question. As regards the question of costs, it may be observed in the first place that it is not unusual for a defendant who is not technically convicted to be ordered to pay costs. Under Section 1 of the Probation Act, 1907, Courts of Summary Jurisdiction have power, in cases where they consider that a charge is proved but that there are mitigating circumstances, formally to dismiss the charge but at the same time, under subsection (3), to make an order for the payment of reasonable costs by the defendant. Secondly, the question of costs is entirely within the discretion of the magistrates, and the Secretary of State has no power to remit them.
LORD STRACHIE: My Lords, I gather from the noble Earl's answer that he has not been able to go into the question of the form of certificate of analysis adopted by the Home Office. Perhaps he will be so good as to inquire of the Department whether it would not be possible to state the result of an analysis in different terms from those which are in use at the present moment. It is evident in this particular case, if the facts are as stated, that no water was added; yet the certificate of analysis states that water was added. I am given to understand by public analysts that it is in accordance with the form at present laid down by the Home Office to certify that

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water has been added when the milk is below the standard laid down by the Regulations of the Board of Agriculture, even although as a matter of fact no water may have been added. It seems ridiculous, too, when a prosecution takes place in respect of milk in which fat is below 3 per cent., that the certificate should state that fat had been abstracted, whereas no fat may have been abstracted. Again, it is laid down that there must be 8·5 per cent. of solids. In the same way, where the solids are below that figure the certificate of analysis states that water has been added, whereas in a great many eases no scientific evidence can be given showing any ground for this statement. I submit that the certificate should state simply that the
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milk was deficient in fat or deficient in solids. Perhaps the noble Earl will inquire into the matter. I am sure he will see what a difference this would make to the unfortunate farmer, who, where milk supplied by him is below the prescribed standard owing to the poverty of the milk, is now wrongfully accused of having added water to it deliberately.
EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTON: I will, with pleasure, communicate to the Home Office the substance of what the noble Lord has said, and let him have a reply.
House adjourned at Five o'clock, till To-morrow, a quarter past Four o'clock.