Sitting of 24 June 1895

Preamble
The House met at Ten minutes after Three of the Clock.

PROVISIONAL ORDER BILLS.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (POOR LAW) BILL, and
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 13) BILL.
As amended, considered; read 3°, and passed.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 10) BILL.
Reported, with Amendments [Provisional Order confirmed]; as amended, to be considered To-morrow.
CITY CHURCH FUNDS.
Return [presented 21st June] to be printed.—[No. 316.]
ROYAL OBSERVATORY (EDINBURGH).
Copy presented,—of Fifth Annual Report of Astronomer Royal for Scotland (1895) [by Command]; to lie upon the Table.
DISEASES OF ANIMALS ACT, 1894.
Copy presented,—of Order of the Lords Justices and Privy Council in Ireland, dated 17th June 1895, relating to the landing of Foreign Animals in Ireland [by Act]; to lie upon the Table.
OUT-DOOR RELIEF (SPECIFIED COUNTIES).
Return presented,—relative thereto [ordered 7th March; Sir Theodore fry]; to lie upon the Table.
WINES IMPORTED.
Return presented,—relative thereto (in continuation of Parliamentary Paper, No. 96, of Session 1894) [ordered 20th May; Sir Frederick Seager Hunt]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed.—[No. 317.]
EAST INDIA (ACCOUNTS AND ESTIMATES, 1895–6).
Copy presented,—of Explanatory Memorandum by the Secretary of State for India [by Command]; to lie upon the Table.
EAST INDIA (CANTONMENT ACTS).
Return presented,—relative thereto [Address (6th May; Mr. Stansfeld]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed.— [No. 318.]
EAST INDIA (INCOME AND EXPEN DITURE).
Return presented,—relative thereto [Address 13th June; Mr. Secretary Fowler]; to lie upon the Table, and to be printed.—[No. 319.]

FATAL ACCIDENTS INQUIRY (SCOT LAND) BILL.
Reported from the Standing Committee (Scotland);
Report to lie upon the Table, and to be printed.—[No. 320.]
Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee to be printed.—[No. 320.]
Bill, as amended by the Standing Committee, to be taken into consideration upon Thursday, and to be printed.—[Bill 323.]

RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.
*SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTwho rose amid loud cheers shortly before half-past Three o'clock, said: Mr. Speaker, it is my duty, before questions, to make an announcement to the House, because I think that that announcement will show that questions for to-day should be deferred. The Division of last Friday night upon the Army Vote for the War Office was, in fact, a direct Vote of Censure upon the Secretary of State for the War Department—[cheers]—than whom I will take on me to say no more able, more respected, or more popular Minister ever filled that great post. [Loud and general cheers.] I need hardly say that the Government absolutely associated and identify themselves with the responsibility of my right hon. Friend and his Army administration. [Cheers.] The course thus taken by responsible Gentlemen opposite has disabled the Secretary of State from proceeding with the Army Estimates, and has made it practically impossible for the executive Government to obtain those Votes of Supply which are necessary for the public service of the country. The Cabinet, therefore, have found it their duty, through the Prime Minister, to tender to the Queen their resignation of office, and that resignation has been accepted by Her Majesty. The

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Government accordingly only hold office until their successors are appointed. Under these circumstances I should, according to usual precedent, have moved the adjournment of the House so that no ordinary business could be transacted until the appointment of our successors, who will be responsible for the conduct of affairs. But, Sir, there happens to be on the Paper one Bill which it is indispensable should be passed and receive the Royal Assent before the end of the present week; I refer to the Seal Fisheries Bill. I shall propose, therefore, to proceed with that Bill, and that Bill alone, to-day, postponing all other Orders of the Day, and when it is disposed of, then to move the adjournment of the House. This is a course which has previously been pursued in the year 1886 and in the year 1885, when, during an interregnum like the present indispensable business was transacted. I shall, therefore, propose to postpone the first Order of the Day, which is Supply; and then I should hope that we shall be able to take the Committee on the Seal Fisheries Bill, and if it passes, as I hope, through Committee without Amendment, then it will be read a third time and sent to the House of Lords. Well, Sir, that is all that is necessary or proper that I should say upon the present occasion on the business of this House. Before I sit down I hope I may be permitted to say a few further words before I leave this place. In quitting office I relinquish also a position which I have always regarded as one of greater responsibility and higher obligation even than any office under the Crown. [General cheers.] It has always been my aim, unequal as I have felt myself to the task—[Opposition cries of "No!"]—to maintain the ancient dignity and the great traditions—[Opposition cheers]—of this famous Assembly. In that arduous duty, under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty, I have received great and necessary assistance. I desire to tender to the Gentlemen with whom I have the honour to act my grateful thanks for the constant, the unfailing, and the generous support which I have received from them in the duty which has been devolved upon me. I desire also to acknowledge the courtesy which I have invariably received from my political opponents—[Opposition cheers]
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—and, Sir, if it be not too presumptuous to adopt the words of one of my most illustrious predecessors, I would ask leave to say that for every man who has spent his life in the noble arena of Parliamentary conflict, the chiefest ambition must always, whether in the majority or in the minority, be to stand well with the House of Commons. [General cheers.]
MR. A. J. BALFOURwho was received with loud Opposition cheers, said: Sir, everybody, on whichever side of the House he may sit, will have heard with sympathy and emotion the touching words with which the right hon. Gentleman concluded his speech. ["Hear, hear!"] Whether or not it is to be really, for the moment, the termination of the responsible office which he has held with so much dignity for more than two years I know not. But whether it be so, or whether the right hon. Gentleman is destined to continue the duties he has hitherto so worthily sustained, all must feel that, so far as his glance is backwards, so far as he has made a retrospective survey of the work he has done in this House, he has not appealed to us who sit on this side of the House, still less to those who sit on the other, he has not appealed in vain for our sympathy and for our approval of the object which he has always had in view as a Parliamentary leader. Whatever we may think of the policy of the Government which he leads in this House, we all recognise the right hon. Gentleman as one of the greatest ornaments of this Assembly [cheers], and as one who has ever had the dignity of this Assembly in view. Sir, you will not, I hope, think I am travelling into unnecessary criticisms when I say that, while I recognise that the Government are the best judges of whether they can or cannot properly under the existing circumstances continue to be responsible for public affairs, while I have no title to criticise the interpretation they have put upon the Vote of last Friday, I should have thought that, taking the view they do, the proper and constitutional course for them to have adopted would have been to advise Her Majesty to dissolve Parliament. [Loud Opposition Cheers.] It must be admitted by all that for a Government in the position of that of which the right hon. Gentleman is a Member to resign is practically equiva-

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lent to a determination to put the burden of Office upon the Opposition. [Ministerial Cheers.] But the present Opposition have been themselves the subject of a deliberate and successful Vote of Censure by this House of Commons. In August, 1892, the Gentlemen who sit upon this Bench, all of them Members of the previous Administration, were made the subject of a Vote of Censure proposed by the present Home Secretary, which Vote of Censure was carried by a substantial majority. So that what in effect the right hon. Gentleman appears to desire is that those whose policy has already been deliberately censured by this House of Parliament should never theless endeavour to wind up the business of the Session. Sir, I do not think that is in accordance with the best constitutional traditions ["Hear, hear!"] and I greatly regret that the Government have adopted the course which they have adopted on the present occasion. That, Sir, I think, is all that is necessary for me to say upon the present crisis. The right hon. Gentleman has made allusion to one particular Bill which, he says, must pass into law in accordance with international obligations. Well, Sir, the right hon. Gentleman speaks upon that subject with authority, and I have no doubt that the Bill will pass without any great difficulty in the course of this evening. I do not criticise, therefore, the departure from ordinary practice which has induced the right hon. Gentleman to except that Bill from the general proscription which he has made against business, whether it be public or private. For whatever may be the issue of the present crisis, of which I myself venture to make no forecast, it is evident that that Bill, at all events, ought to pass into law without unnecessary delay. [Cheers.]

SEAL, FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) BILL.
Considered in Committee.
MR. MELLORin the Chair.
(In the Committee.)
MR. T. GIBSON BOWLESasked the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs if, in order to expedite the discussion of the clauses of this Bill, he would state, first, what were the terms of the existing agreement, if any, with Russia upon this subject; secondly,
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what were the terms of the complaints which had been made by the Canadian Government; and, thirdly, what were the terms of the agreement, if any, between the United States and Russia. He had an Amendment upon the Paper, but if the hon. Baronet's answer was satisfactory he should not move it.
MR. R. W. HANBURYsaid, that he also had several Amendments to propose, which, however, he would not press if they obtained an answer to the points mentioned by his hon. Friend.
SIR EDWARD GREYsaid, he would leave his hon. Friend, Mr. Buxton, to answer the question with regard to Canada. The agreement with Russia had simply been renewed by an exchange of notes between the two Governments. The agreement entered into between the United States and Russia was exactly similar in character, and it would be embodied in the Blue-book, which would be issued with the least possible delay. He hoped those two points would be regarded as satisfactory.
MR. SYDNEY BUXTONsaid, there had been a great deal of correspondence between the Colonial Office and the Canadian Government with the view of coming to an agreement, arid he thought he might say that on the whole the objections made by Canada had been satisfactorily met. There were three points raised with regard to the Bill. The first objection was that the old Bill did not make the owner as well as the master liable where a ship was properly condemned, and it seemed to the Colonial Office that in many cases it would be idle for any damage that might accrue to make only the master liable, for in not a few instances the master would have no interest in the ship, and might be only a man of straw. He did not know, however, that the Canadians wished to press this point very strongly. On the two other points they had been able to meet the objections raised. The Canadian Government objected, and rightly so, to the power of searching vessels wholly on suspicion and without reasonable means of knowing that they had evaded the law. By the new Bill, as it now stood, it would be seen that no vessel could be seined unless the officer of the naval service had

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reasonable cause to believe that she had committed some illegality, and this fully covered the objection. The third point to which Canada objected was the clause in the old Bill, which threw on the owner and master the onus of proof that a ship found in the prohibited area with sealing implements on board, was not there for an illegal purpose. That clause had been struck out and was not inserted in the present Bill, and the onus of proof would henceforth rest, not on the owner or master, but on those who seized the vessel. ["Hear, hear!"] Those objections having been met, he believed the Bill would have the substantial support of the Canadian Government. ["Hear, hear!"]
MR. GIBSON BOWLESsaid, he thought the points with regard to the agreements with Russia and the United States had been thoroughly met. If the Government would accept his last Amendment and consent to set forth in the Schedule of the Bill, as was done with the Bills of 1893 and 1894, the sections of the Merchant Shipping Act which were made applicable to this measure, he should be prepared, under the exceptional circumstances in which they were then placed, to withdraw all the Amendments to the Bill of which he had given notice. In order that those who would be affected by the Bill might clearly understand it, it was necessary that the sections referred to should be fully set out in the Schedule. It would relieve the Bill of the charge that otherwise it was legislation by allusion.
SIR E. GREYsaid, the point was fully considered by the Government when the Bill was drawn up, and they came to the conclusion that the object which the hon. Member had in view would be best met if, instead of adding the schedule to the Bill, the captain of the sealer, when he was supplied with a copy of the Act, should have added to it a short statement of the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act (1894).
SIR RICHARD WEBSTERsaid he would advise his hon. Friend to accept the statement of the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, though he approved of the sections of the Merchant Shipping Act applying to the Bill being scheduled in it. The question was a practical one, and, perhaps, on reconsidering the matter, the Govern-
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ment might consent to the schedule being inserted by the Lords.
DR. TANNER: Mr. Chairman, I rise to move that you do now report Progress, and ask leave to sit again. [Laughter and cries of "Order."] Seeing that the Irish Land Bill is not to be proceeded with, I do not see why the Seal Fisheries Bill should be taken. [Loud cries of "Order."]
THE CHAIRMAN: I cannot put that motion. [Cheers.]
MR. BUXTON (in reply to Mr. GIBSON BOWLES)said, that before the Bill went up to the House of Lords, the Government would reconsider the joint whether it would be advisable to insert a schedule of the sections of the Merchant Shipping Act, though he doubted that it would be done.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESsaid, he still thought the schedule ought to form part of the Bill. But in view of the crisis that had arisen in the business of the country, he should not, under the circumstances, move the Amendments of which he had given notice.
Bill passed through Committee, and Reported without Amendment.
Bill read 3°, and passed.

ADJOURNMENT.
Mr. H. H. ASQUITH (Fife, E.)Mr. H. H. ASQUITH (Fife, E.), moved "That this House do now adjourn."
Several hon. MEMBERS: Until when?
MR. ASQUITH: Until to-morrow. It is a matter of arrangement between the two sides of the House that the House should adjourn now until tomorrow, when all Committees and other bodies will meet in the ordinary way.
SIR RICHARD TEMPLEasked, whether the Committees would sit on Wednesday?
MR. ASQUITH: It may be for somebody else to dispose of the Business on Wednesday. [Laughter.]
DR. TANNER (who rose amid cries of "Order")said, he wished to ask Mr. Speaker whether, when a Member rose in Committee to raise an objection, it was casting any reflection on the Chair or on the Chairman of Committees?
*MR. SPEAKER: Order, order! The hon. Member is clearly out of Order.
Question "That this House do now adjourn" put, and agreed to.
House adjourned at Four o'clock.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

  LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL (TOWER BRIDGE SOUTHERN APPROACH) BILL.
  THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (The Earl of MORLEY)THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (The Earl of MORLEY) moved the Second Reading of this Bill.
  THE EARL OF DENBIGHsaid, that on such an occasion, when they were awaiting a statement of great importance, he would not detain their Lordships by speaking on the Second Reading of a private Bill; but he wished to say, as a Member of the Committee which inquired into the Betterment question last year, and the only Committee of either House which had gone into the question, that very great objection was taken to the Bill as it now came before their Lordships' House; and when the Bill came back from the Committee for a Third Reading it would probably be examined in great detail. For the present he merely wished to enter a protest against the terms of a compromise arrived at by certain parties in the London County Council, and to say that this compromise was regarded by a great number of persons who had been no parties to it themselves as being very inequitable and very unjust.
  Bill read 2a.

PROVISIONAL ORDER BILLS.

  EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CON FIRMATION (LONDON) BILL. [H.L.]
  Reported from the Select Committee with Amendments, and committed to a Committee of the whole House.
  The following Bills were brought from the Commons, and read 1a.

  FRIENDLY SOCIETIES BILL (No. 161).
  OUTDOOR RELIEF (IRELAND) BILL (No. 162).
  VOLUNTEERS (MILITARY SERVICE) BILL (No. 163).
  BURGH POLICE (SCOTLAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (PAISLEY) BILL (No. 164).
  DRAINAGE AND IMPROVEMENT OF LANDS (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL (No. 165).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 7) BILL (No. 166.)
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 8) BILL (No. 167).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 9) BILL (No. 168).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 5) BILL (No. 169).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 8) BILL (No. 170).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 9) BILL (No. 171).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 11) BILL (No. 172).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 12) BILL (No. 173).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 13) BILL (No. 174).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDER (HOUSING OF WORKING CLASSES) (No. 2) BILL (No. 175).
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (POOR LAW) BILL (No. 176).
  The following were returned from the Commons, agreed to:—
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (ACTON) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (BRISTOL) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (CROYDON) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (HORNSEY) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDERS CONFIRMATION (LEEDS) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (LIVERPOOL) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (LLANGOLLEN) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (LONGBENTON) BILL H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (LOWESTOFT) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (MANCHESTER) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (PWLLHELI) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (WESTON-SUPER-MARE) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (WILMINGTON) BILL [H.L.]
  ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROVISIONAL ORDER CONFIRMATION (TOTTENHAM) BILL [H.L.]
  House in Committee (according to Order): Amendments made: Standing Committee negatived: The Report of amendments to be received To-morrow.
  The following were read 2a (according to Order), and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow:—

  COMMONS REGULATION (BEXHILL) PRO VISIONAL ORDER BILL.
  COMMONS REGULATION (HALIFAX) PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL.
  INOLOSURE (CASTOR AND AILSWORTH) PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL.
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 5) BILL.
  PIER AND HARBOUR PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 3) BILL.
  The following were read 3a (according to order), and passed—
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PRO VISIONAL ORDERS (No. 3) BILL.
  LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 4) BILL.
  METROPOLITAN POLICE PROVISIONAL ORDER BILL.
  ELECTRIC LIGHTING PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 1) BILL.
  ELECTRIC LIGHTING PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 2) BILL.
  ELECTRIC LIGHTING PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 3.) BILL.
  PIER AND HARBOUR PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 1) BILL.
  The following were read 3a (according to Order), and passed, and sent to the Commons:—
  ELECTRIC LIGHTING PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 5.) BILL [H.L.]
  ELECTRIC LIGHTING PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 6.) BILL [H.L.]
  GAS ORDERS CONFIRMATION BILL [H.L.]; and
  GAS AND WATER ORDERS CONFIRMATION
  BILL [H.L.]
  Amendments reported (according to Order); and Bills to be read 3a Tomorrow.

  TRAMWAYS ORDERS CONFIRMATION (No. 1.) BILL [H.L.]
  Read 3a(according to Order), and passed, and sent to the Commons.

  CANAL RATES, TOLLS, AND CHARGES PROVISIONAL ORDER BILLS.
  Moved—That the Message of the House of Commons of the 17th instant with respect to the following Bills, viz.:—
  Canal Rates, Tolls, and Charges Provisional Order (Strabane Canal) Bill;
  Canal Tolls and Charges Provisional Order (Caledonian and Crinan Canal) Bill;
  Canal Tolls and Charges Provisional Order (River Ouse, Beds and Hunts, &c.) Bill;
  be taken into consideration (the Chairman of Committees); agreed to The said Message considered accordingly. Then it was moved that a Committee of five Lords be appointed to join with the Committee of the House of Commons, as mentioned in the said Message; agreed to. The Lords following were named of the Committee:—
  Duke of Richmond and Gordon; Earl of Lauderdale; Lord Digby; Lord Rookwood; Lord Hawkesbury.
  Ordered,—That such Committee have power to agree with the Committee of the House of Commons in the appointment of a Chairman.
  Then a Message was ordered to be sent to the Commons to acquaint them therewith.

  STATUTE LAW REVISION AND CONSOLIDATION BILLS.
  Message from the Commons that they have committed the House Tax (Consolidation) Bill to the Joint Committee on Statute Law Revision, &c., Bills.
  JAPAN, No. 1 (1895.)
  Dispatch from Her Majesty's Minister at Tokio, forwarding copy of the Treaty of Peace concluded between China and Japan, 17th April 1895.
  ROYAL OBSERVATORY (EDINBURGH).
  Fifth Annual Report of the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, 1895.
  PRISONS (DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE).
  Minutes of Evidence taken by the Departmental Committee on Prisons; with appendices and index.
  EXPLOSIONS (TIMSBURY COLLIERY).
  Reports to the Secretary of State on the circumstances attending an explosion which occurred in the Timsbury Colliery on the 6th February 1895, by J. Roskill, Esq., barrister-at-law, and Joseph S. Martin, Esq., Her Majesty's Inspector of Mines.

  INDIA (ACCOUNTS AND ESTIMATES), 1895–96.
  Explanatory memorandum by the Secretary of State for India.
  Presented (by command), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  DISEASES OF ANIMALS ACT, 1894.
  Order of the Lords Justices in Council, dated 17th June 1895, relating to the landing of foreign animals in Ireland: Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

  RESIGNATION OF MINISTERS.
  THE EARL OF ROSEBERY: My Lords, Before the House proceeds to the consideration of the business on the Paper—and that I trust will, in the circumstances, only be the non-contentious public business on the Paper—I desire to make a very brief statement, which the House no doubt will anticipate. After the vote in the House of Commons on Friday night, which was practically a Vote of Censure on the Secretary of State for War and on the Department over which he presides, on the question of National Defence, immediately after he had laid before the House, or adumbrated to the House, a great scheme of military reorganisation, the Government have felt it their duty to place their resignations in the hands of the Queen. Those resignations have been accepted, and the Government consequently only hold Office until their successors are appointed.
  THE EARL OF CRANBROOK,in the absence of the Marquess of Salisbury, said: I understand my noble Friend, Lord Salisbury, will wish the House to adjourn until to-morrow. In that case I presume that to-morrow only non-contentious business will be taken, but if there is any public business which the Government think ought to be proceeded with there will be no objection to that.
  THE EARL OF ROSEBERY: I take it that will be the course, in accordance with precedent. There is one important Bill which, I think, is non-contentious—the Behring Sea Fisheries Bill, which is coming up from the House of Commons, and may possibly go through all its stages there to-night.

  DIVORCE AMENDMENT BILL.
  This Bill stood on the Paper for Committee, but on the Order being called,
  VISCOUNT HALIFAXsaid, it could hardly be called a non-contentious Bill, and, therefore, he proposed to postpone it.

  INFANT LIFE PROTECTION BILL.
  On the Order for the Second Reading of this Bill being called,
  THE EARL OF ONSLOWsaid, that although he did not think the Bill was a contentious one, he thought it would be desirable in the circumstances that he should not move the Second Reading that night. The Bill was the same Bill as that introduced by the late Government when in power, and he trusted he would have an opportunity of moving the Second Reading under more favourable auspices.
  THE EARL OF ROSEBERY: I trust the noble Earl will have an opportunity of moving the Second Reading under more favourable auspices.

  COURT OF SESSION CONSIGNATIONS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
  House in Committee (according to Order); Bill reported without Amendment; Standing Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a to-morrow.
  POST OFFICE ACT (1891) AMENDMENT BILL.
  House in Committee (according to order); Bill reported without Amendment; Standing Committee negatived; and Bill to be read 3a to-morrow.
  MORTGAGEES' COSTS BILL.
  Read 3a (according to Order), with the Amendments, and passed, and returned to the Commons.
  EXTRADITION BILL [H.L.]
  Read 3a (according to Order); Amendments made; Bill passed; and sent to the Commons.

  BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.
  THE EARL OF ROSEBERY: I move that the sitting of the House to-morrow do commence at a Quarter past Four.
  THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWN: On that Motion I wish to ask a question with reference to a Bill of considerable interest, and with regard to which your Lordships seem to be unaware of the course to be taken. I should like to ask whether the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill is to be taken to-morrow.
  THE DUKE OF ST. ALBANS: In the absence of my noble Friend, Lord Dunraven, it is impossible to give a direct answer, but it seems to me that this is not a contentious Bill, and a valuable discussion on the subject might take place. As regards the supporters of the Bill, we are perfectly prepared to go on with it if the House sits for business to-morrow.
  THE EARL OF ROSEBERY: I rather envy the reasoning faculty by which my noble Friend is able to arrive at the conclusion that the Bill in question is non-contentious. It has torn the House into two violent factions ever since I have had any experience of the House, and, speaking as I do for myself in rather hampered circumstances, I should certainly deprecate the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill being taken under the head of non-contentious business.
  THE DUKE OF ST. ALBANS: I used the expression purely in the party sense.
  THE EARL OF CRANBROOK: I believe that in all cases of a similar kind, when there is no Government actually working and sitting with the power of a Government, it is usual that Bills that are discussable should be suspended—at all events for a time.
  THE DUKE OF ST. ALBANS: In that case I will communicate with Lord Dunraven, and the Bill will not come on to-morrow.

  JUDICIAL COMMITTEE AMENDMENT BILL.
  On the Order for the Second Reading of this Bill,
  THE EARL OF ROSEBERYsaid: I am informed that, by the favour of the noble Lords opposite, I may take this Bill as an unopposed Bill.
  Bill read 2a.

  SEAL FISHERIES (NORTH PACIFIC) BILL.
  This Bill was brought up from the Commons.
  THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY,in moving that it be read a first time, said that, as it was extremely urgent that the Bill should pass into law, he should move the Second Reading tomorrow, and also give notice of his intention to move that the Standing Orders be suspended in order that it might pass through all its stages.
  House adjourned at a Quarter before Five o'clock, until To-morrow.