Sitting of 2 August 1848

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS.—1° Militia Ballots. Suspension.
2°Remedies against the Hundred.
Reported.—Loan Societies.
5° and passed:—sale of Beer.
PETITIONS PRSENTED. By Mr. Heald, from Members of the Wesleyan Chapel at Burnley, Lancashire, for a Better Observance of the Lord's Day.—By Mr. Hume, from several Ministers of the Baptist Denomination, for the Withdrawal of the Regium Donum Grant.—By Mr. M'Gregor, from several Sugar Refiners, against the Admission of Foreign Refined Sugar.—By Captain pechell, from the Journeymen Bakers of Brighton, for Inquiry into their Grievances.—By Mr. Greenall, from several Lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, for an Extension of the Benefit Societies Act.—By Mr. Cardwell, from several Merchants, and Others, of Liverpool, for Extending the Habeas Corpus (Ireland) Bill to that Place.—By Mr. M'Gregor, from Elizabeth, Margaret, Ann, and Jane Horne, complaining of the Conduct of certain Trustees, who withhold a Special Bequest made in their favour in 1808.—By Mr. Masterman, from the Corporation of the London Assurance, against the Assurance of Life Policies Bill.—By Colonel Lowther, from Officers employed in the East Ward Union, Westmoreland, in favour of a Superannuation Fund for Poor Law Officers.—By Mr. M'Gregor, from Robert Rettie, Civil Engineer, for an Inquiry respecting the Railway and Marine Night Signals.—By Mr. Cardwell, from the Liverpool Guardian Society for the Protection of Trade, in favour of the Remedies against the Hundred Bill.—By Spooner, from Colwich, Staffordshire, in favour of the Sale of Beer Bill.

LANDED PROPERTY (IRELAND) BILL.
MR. S. CRAWFORD MR. S. CRAWFORD moved that the order for going into Committee on this Bill be discharged. At this period of the Session, he felt that it was quite hopeless to proceed with the Bill; but he appealed to the right hon. Baronet (Sir G. Grey) to

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take care that the object of this Bill should be considered by the Government previous to the next Session. He hoped that the Secretary for Ireland would also give his attention to the subject, in order that some Government machinery might be constructed for the better working of the Bill.
Order discharged. Bill withdrawn.

REMEDIES AGAINST THE HUNDRED BILL.
SIR W. CLAY SIR W. CLAY moved the Second Reading. He explained the state of the law. By the 57th of Geo. III., cap. 19, remedy was given against the hundred for damages inflicted by a riotous assembly upon any shop or building, and the inhabitants of the city, town, or hundred, were bound to make full compensation to the person damnified. Up to 1827, that was the state of the law. By the 7th and 8th of Geo. IV., cap. 27, all prior Acts relating to the liabilities of the hundred for injuries by riotous assemblages were repealed. Scotland was omitted from that Act. By an Act passed in the same Session (cap. 31), that liability was partially restored; and the effect of the law of 1827 was, that there should be no remedy against the hundred unless the injuries should have been done by persons who should be decided to have been guilty of felony by the Act. By an Act of the same year (1827), it was made felony to demolish, pull down, or destroy any buildings, wholly or in part, by persons riotously assembled; but it had been held by judges that such demolishing or beginning to demolish was not felony within the meaning of the Act, unless there was evidence that the rioters, if not prevented by the civil power, would have totally demolished the premises. This was a very anomalous state of the law, and, to render it still more so, a different system prevailed in Scotland; for the 7th and 8th of Geo. IV. did not extend to Scotland, but the 57th of Geo. III. did extend to Scotland; so that at the present moment the law in that country was in the same state as that to which he wished to restore it in England. His object was to amend the law, so that in all cases of damage inflicted upon property, the party damnified should obtain prompt redress, whether the act by which the injury was inflicted should be esteemed to be felony or only misdemeanour. The hon. Member concluded by moving the second reading of the Bill.
SIR G. GREYsaid, the law had been altered by the right hon. Baronet the
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Member for Tamworth when Home Secretary; there had been no opposition to that alteration, and he (Sir G. Grey) could not consent to the restoration of the law to the state in which it had stood before that alteration, so as to make the hundred liable for every pane of glass that might be broken. The reason the principle of the Act now in force was not fully carried out, was owing to the absurd distinction between felony and other offences; for the law said that the offence must be felony to make the hundred liable. Although he was not prepared to go the length of this Bill in altering the law, he was quite willing to consider whether some better test than felony might not he applied to the offence making the hundred liable. At the same time he could not consent to make the hundred liable in every case.
Bill read a second time.

SALE OF BEER.
Bill read a third time.
MR. C. BERKELEYproposed the omission from the Bill of the words, "before half-past twelve o'clock in the afternoon." His object was to strike out of the Bill all words requiring public-houses to be closed until some definite time on the Sunday, leaving in the Bill the provision compelling them to be closed during the morning service.
House divided on the question that the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Bill:—Ayes 59; Noes 24: Majority 35.

List of the AYES.

Arkwright, G.

Henry, A.

Armstrong, Sir A.

Hood, Sir A.

Armstrong, R. B.

Hope, A.

Baghaw, J.

Hotham, Lord

Beresford, W.

Howard, P. H.

Bernal, R.

Hume, J.

Bramston, T. W.

Inglis, Sir R. H.

Brisco, M.

Jervis, Sir J.

Brotherton, J.

Jolliffe, Sir W. G. H.

Buxton, Sir E. N.

Kershaw, J.

Campbell, hon. W. F.

Legh, G. C.

Cobden, R.

Lewis, G. C.

Courtenay, Lord

Lockhart, A. E.

Craig, W. G.

Maule, rt. hon. F.

Duncan, G.

Milnes, R. M.

Duncuft, J.

Monsell, W.

Edwards, H.

Moody, C. A.

Ferguson, Sir R. A.

Morpeth, Visct.

Forster, M.

Newdegate, C. N.

Frewen, C. H.

Paget, Lord A.

Fuller, A. E.

Palmer, R.

Greenall, G.

Pearson, C.

Grey, rt. hon. Sir G.

Raphael, A.

Gwyn, H.

Robartes, T. J. A.

Hastie, A.

Rutherfurd, A.

Henley, J. W.

Sandars, J.

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Smith, J. B.

Wood, W. P.

Stafford, A.

Wortley, rt. hon. J. S.

Stanton, W. H.

TELLERS.

Willoughby, Sir H.

Duckworth, Sir J. T. B.

Wilson, M.

Patten, J. W.

List of the NOES.

Divett, E.

Stuart, Lord D.

Elliot, hon. J. E.

Stuart, H.

Evans, Sir De L.

Tenison, E. K.

FitzGerald, W. R. S.

Thompson, Col.

Fox, W. J.

Townley, R. G.

Greene, J.

Vane, Lord H.

Heald, J.

Wakley, T.

Hodgson, W. N.

Wall, C. B.

Lushington, C.

Williams, J.

Osborne, R.

Wrightson, W. B.

Pechell, Capt.

Pilkington, J.

TELLERS.

Salwey, Col.

Berkeley, hon. C. F.

Spooner, R.

Gibson, M.

MR. M. GIBSON MR. M. GIBSON moved the omission of all the words relating to the closing of public-houses until the termination of divine service.
The House divided on the question that the words stand:—Ayes 58; Noes 25: Majority 33.
MR. HUME MR. HUME moved to strike out from clause 4 the words "ready-made coffee or tea."
The House divided on the question that the words stand:—Ayes 34; Noes 44: Majority 10.

List of the AYES.

Arkwright, G.

Hope, A.

Armstrong, R. B.

Hotham, Lord

Bramston, T. W.

Inglis, Sir R. H.

Brisco, M.

Jolliffe, Sir W. G. H.

Brotherton, J.

Lewis, G. C.

Buxton, Sir E. N.

Lockhart, A. E.

Carew, W. H. P.

Mackinnon, W. A.

Craig, W. G.

Moody, C. A.

Dick, Q.

Morpeth, Visct.

Duncuft, J.

Raphael, A.

Edwards, H.

Rutherfurd, A.

FitzGerald, W. R. S.

Sandars, G.

Frewen, C. H.

Spooner, R.

Fuller, A. E.

Townley, R. G.

Greenall, G.

Wilson, M.

Grogan, E.

Gwyn, H.

TELLERS.

Heald, J.

Newdegate, C. N.

Hood, Sir A.

Patten, J. W.

List of the NOES.

Anderson, A.

Du Pre, C. G.

Armstrong, Sir A.

Evans, Sir De L.

Berkeley, hon. H. F.

Forster, M.

Berkeley, hon. C. F.

Fox, W. J.

Campbell, hon. W. F.

Greene, J.

Cobden, R.

Hall, Col.

Colebrooke, Sir T. E.

Hastie, A.

Courtenay, Lord

Henley, J. W.

Divett, E.

Hildyard, R. C.

Dodd, G.

Hodges, T. L.

Duckworth, Sir J. T. B.

Hodgson, W. N.

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Howard, P. H.

Spearman, H. J.

Lushington, C.

Stafford, A.

M'Cullagh, W. T.

Stuart, Lord D.

Ogle, S. C. H.

Stuart, H.

Osborne, R.

Thompson, Col.

Paget, Lord A.

Wall, C. B.

Palmer, R.

Williams, J.

Pechell, Capt.

Willoughby, Sir H.

Pilkington, J.

Wortley, rt. hon. J. S.

Robartes, T. J. A.

Salwey, Col.

TELLERS.

Sidney, Ald.

Hume, J.

Smyth, Sir H.

Wakley, T.

Words omitted. Bill passed.
House adjourned at a quarter-past Five.