Sitting of 11 August 1869

Preamble
The House met at half after One of the clock.

APPOINTMENT OF REVISING BARRISTERS.—QUESTION.
MR. WESTsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Government intend to introduce a measure next Session, in accordance with the recommendations of the Select Committee on Registration, and which would have the effect of relieving the Judges having the Summer Assize Circuits from the appointment of the Revising Barristers?
MR. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that the subject was under the consideration of the Government. The recommendations of the Select Committee were alternative, and it was impossible to say, if the Government should propose to alter the present system of making the appointment, which of these alternative propositions they would adopt.

LICENSES ON CABS AND OMNIBUSES.

  QUESTION.
  MR. GOURLEYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he will, before fixing the sum to be paid by the owners of omnibuses and cabs for the new Police Regulation Licenses, consider the arrangement existing in provincial towns, and so adapt the charges that the burden of local taxation may not fall heavier on the owners of public vehicles in the metropolis than in other places, the Secretary of State being empowered by the present Metropolitan Act to fix £2 2s. as the license on each public carriage, which in other places was only 10 s. per annum?
  MR. BRUCEsaid, in reply, that the last thing he should wish to do was to intercept any portion of the benefit which would accrue both to the owners of vehicles and the public from the diminution of the duties upon public vehicles. The charges for inspection, which had amounted to about £13,000 a year, had hitherto been borne partly by the Imperial revenue and partly by the metropolitan police rate. It was stipulated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that this charge for inspection
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  should be levied on the vehicles themselves. It was his desire that this charge should be as low as was consistent with effective supervision. An inquiry was now going on in all the provincial towns as to the cost of supervision, but whether he should be able to reduce the charge to the level of the sum found sufficient in provincial towns he did not know.

  BURGLARIES AT STAINES.—QUESTION.
  MR. GOURLEYsaid, he would beg to inquire, Whether the attention of the authorities of the Home Office has been drawn to the commission of a succession of burglaries, seven having taken place within the fifteen days preceding this notice at Staines and the immediate neighbourhood?
  MR. BRUCEsaid, it was not quite accurate to say that seven burglaries had occurred within fifteen days, in and about Staines. There had been two burglaries and three larcenies by stealing out of houses in the day time, in consequence of the windows being left open. The value of the property taken in one case was only 2s. 6d. In consequence of the burglaries two mounted policemen and one detective had been sent into the neighbourhood.

  JAMAICA CLERGY ACT.—QUESTION.
  MR. M'ARTHURsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, What course the Government intend to take in relation to the Jamaica Clergy Act, which would shortly expire, and what are their intentions in reference to the future ecclesiastical arrangements for that island?
  MR. MONSELLsaid, in reply, that the Jamaica Clergy Act would expire this year. Under that Act more than £20,000, raised out of the taxes of the colony, was appropriated to religious purposes. By the Census of 1861 it appeared that there were in Jamaica 40,000 members of the Anglican Church 42,000 Methodists, 51,530 Baptists, and 30,000 belonging to other religious denominations. Of this sum of £20,000, all, except £370, went towards the maintenance of the Church of England. Under these circumstances it had been determined to introduce religious equality into that colony, and instructions had been issued to the Governor to the effect

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  that Her Majesty's Government were of opinion that the moral and religious culture of the subject-race of the island, and not the ascendancy of any one portion of the community, should be the object of the Government, and that it would, be desirable to avoid all appearance of showing exclusive favour to any one denomination. No scheme had yet been submitted by the Governor, but one was expected to arrive by the next mail, and it would be founded on the principle just mentioned.

  PROROGATION OF THE PARLIAMENT.
  Message to attend The LORDS COMMISSIONERS.
  The House went;—and the ROYAL ASSENT was given to several Bills.
  And afterwards Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech was delivered to both
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  Houses of Parliament by The LORD CHANCELLOR, in pursuance of Her Majesty's Commands.
  Then a Commission for proroguing the Parliament was read.
  After which,
  THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid—
  My Lords, and Gentlemen,
  By virtue of Her Majesty's Commission, under the Great Seal, to us and other Lords directed, and now read, we do, in Her Majesty's Name, and in obedience to Her Commands, prorogue this Parliament to Thursday the 28th day of October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Thursday the 28th day of October next.

MINUTES.
— PUBLIC BILLS —Royal Assent— Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) [32 &c 33 Vict. c. 93]; New Parishes and Church Building Acts Amendment [32 & 33 Vict. o. 94]; Mill bank Prison [32 & 33 Vict. c. 95]; Contagious Diseases [32 & 33 Vict. c. 96]; Government of India Act Amendment [32 & 33 Vict. c. 97]; Governor General of India [32 & 33 Vict. o. 98]; Habitual Criminals [32 & 33 Vict. c. 99]; Warehousing of Wines and Spirits, &c. [32 & 33 Vict. c. 103]; Dividends

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on Public Stocks [32 & 33 Vict. c. 104]; Harbour of Galle Loan [32 & 33 Vict. c. 105]; East India Loan [32 & 33 Vict. c. 106]; Sanitary Act (1866) Amendment [32 & 33 Vict. c. 100]; Sanitary Act (1866) Amendment (Ireland) [32 & 33 Vict. c. 108]; Metropolitan Commons Act (1866) Amendment [32 & 33 Vict. c. 107]; Presentation of Benefices belonging to Roman Catholics, &c. [32 & 33 Vict. c. 109]; Canada (Rupert's Land) Loan [32 & 33 Vict. c. 101]; Metropolitan Board of Works (Loans) [32 & 33 Vict. c. 102]; Charity Commissioners [32 & 33 Vict. c. 110]; Bishops Resignation [32 & 33 Vict. c. 111; Seeds Adulteration [32 & 33 Vict. c. 112] Nitro Glycerine [32 & 33 Vict. c. 113]; Railways Abandonment [32 & 33 Vict. c. 114]; Hackney and Stage Carriages Law Amendment [32 & 33 Vict. c. 115]; Titles to Land Consolidation (Scotland) Act (1868) Amendment [32 & 33 Vict. c. 116]; Pharmacy Act (1868) Amendment [32 & 33 Vict. c. 117]; Broughty Ferry Provisional Order Confirmation [32 & 33 Vict. c. clviii.]; Inclosure of Lands [32 & 33 Vict. c: clix.]

PROROGATION OF THE PARLIAMENT. HER MAJESTY'S SPEECH.
The PARLIAMENTwas this day prorogued by Commission.
The LORDS COMMISSIONERS— namely, The LORD CHANCELLOR; The LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Earl of Kimberley); The EARL GRANVILLE (Secretary of State for the Colonies); The LORD CHAMBERLAIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD (The Viscount Sydney); and The LORD FOLEY — being in their robes, and seated on a Form between the Throne and the Woolsack; and the COMMONS being come, with their Speaker, the ROYAL ASSENT was given to several Bills.
Then THE LORD CHANCELLOR delivered HER MAJESTY'S SPEECH as follows:—
"My Lords, and Gentlemen,
" WE are commanded by Her Majesty to dispense with your further attendance in Parliament.
"Her Majesty announces to you with, pleasure that She continues to receive from all Foreign Powers the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition, and that Her confidence in the preservation of peace has been continued and confirmed during the present year.
"The negotiations in which Her Majesty was engaged with the United States of North America have by mutual consent been suspended; and Her Majesty earnestly hopes that this delay may tend to maintain the relations between the two countries on a durable basis of friendship.
"Her Majesty has a lively satisfaction in acknowledging the untiring zeal and assiduity with which you have prosecuted the arduous labours of the year.
"In the Act for putting an end to the Establishment of the Irish Church you carefully kept in view the several considerations which, at the opening of the Session, were commended to your notice.
"It is the hope of Her Majesty that this important measure may hereafter be remembered as a conclusive proof of the paramount anxiety of Parliament to pay reasonable regard, in legislating for each of the three Kingdoms, to the special circumstances by which it may be distinguished, and to deal on principles of impartial justice with all interests and all portions of the nation.
"Her Majesty firmly trusts that the Act may promote the work of peace in Ireland, and may help to unite all classes of its people in that fraternal concord with their English and Scottish fellow subjects which must ever form the chief source of strength to Her extended Empire.
"Her Majesty has observed with pleasure your general and cordial readiness to unite in the removal, through the Assessed Bates Act, of a practical grievance which was widely felt.
"Her Majesty congratulates you on having brought your protracted la-

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bours on the subjects of Bankruptcy and of Imprisonment for Debt to a legislative conclusion which is regarded with just satisfaction by the trading classes and by the general public.
"The law which you have framed for the better government of Endowed Schools in England will render the large resources of these establishments more accessible to the community, and more efficient for their important purpose.
"It may reasonably be expected that the Act for the supervision of Habitual Criminals will contribute further to the security of life and property.
"The measure which has been passed with respect to the Contagious Diseases of Animals will, as Her Majesty believes, add confidence and safety to the important trades of breeding and feeding cattle at home, without unnecessarily impeding the freedom of import from abroad.
"By the repeal of the tax on Fire Insurance you have met a long-cherished wish of the community; and in the removal of the duty on Corn Her Majesty sees new evidence of your desire to extend industry and commerce, and to enlarge to the uttermost those supplies of food which our insular position in a peculiar degree both encourages and requires.
"Her Majesty trusts that the measure for the purchase and management of the Electric Telegraphs by the State may be found to facilitate the great commercial and social object of rapid, easy, and certain communication, and may prove no unworthy sequel to that system of cheap postage which has passed with much advantage into so many countries of the civilized world.
"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
"We are commanded to state that Her Majesty thanks you for the liberal supplies which you have granted for the service of the year, and for the measures by which you have enabled Her at once to liquidate the charge of the Abyssinian Expedition.
"My Lords, and Gentlemen,
"Her Majesty reflects with pleasure that, in returning to your several homes, you may contemplate with thankfulness the fruit of your exertions in the passing of many important laws, a portion of which we have now had it in command to notice.
"During the recess you will continue to gather that practical knowledge and experience which form the solid basis of legislative aptitude; and Her Majesty invokes the blessing of the Almighty alike upon your recent and your future labours for the public weal.
Then a Commission for proroguing the Parliament was read.
After which,
THE LORD CHANCELLORsaid—
My Lords, and Gentlemen,
By virtue of Her Majesty's Commission, under the Great Seal, to us and other Lords directed, and now read, we do, in Her Majesty's Name, and in obedience to Her Commands, prorogue this Parliament to Thursday the 28th day of October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Thursday the 28th day of October next.