§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ 5.56 p.m.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, this is a Bill which deals with these two hospitals or almshouses and three other small charities named in the Bill, in the city of Newcastle-on-Tyne, which are at present administered by the City Corporation as trustees. The Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene was founded In the 12th century, and was richly endowed. It is now administered by a Private Act of Parliament which was passed in 1867, when the Corporation, as I have said, were made trustees. It accommodates sixteen freemen with their wives. The intention is that the building should be modernised and that the surplus money should go to the Hospital of the Holy Jesus, which was founded by the Corporation in the 17th century and, in 1934, was rebuilt on land belonging to the St. Mary Magdalene Hospital. This hospital has accommodation for the master, thirty-nine brethren and sisters, being freemen of the city, their wives and unmarried daughters. It is at present administered by a Private Act of Parliament of the year 1847. The other charities did own almshouses once upon a time, but they were abolished when the railway was laid down in Newcastle in 1848.
The object of the Bill at present before your Lordships is to make a new outlet for the increasing revenues of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, to build new buildings, and to provide increased accommodation for the necessitous people in Newcastle-on-Tyne who are not necessarily freemen. Because two Private Acts of Parliament have to be upset, Parliamentary consent is required for the Bill. The Bill has been widely advertised and, so far as I know, no objection has been 333 raised. My Lords, I beg to move that the Bill be read a second time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a—(Lord Amulree.)
§ On Question, Bill read 2a: Committee negatived.