§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (VISCOUNT PEEL)My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be read a second time. The object of it is to remedy a mischief arising out of the Representation of the People Act. Under that Act, for the first time, the expenses of Returning Officers are placed upon the Estimates, and it has been pointed out that this will give to the House of Commons the power of neutralising the right which the Executive has always had of advising His Majesty to dissolve Parliament. In order to place such rights in exactly the position in which they were when the candidates themselves paid the Returning Officers' expenses and to prevent the House of Commons from availing itself of this incidental power, this Bill proposes to place the expenses upon the Consolidated Fund, so that they will no longer appear on the Estimates.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(Viscount Peel).
940§ On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.