Sitting of 1 August 1917

VISCOUNT DEVONPORT.
The Right Honourable Hudson Ewbanke, Baron Devonport, having been created Viscount Devonport of Wittington, in the County of Buckingham—Was (in the usual manner) introduced.
BLACKPOOL IMPROVEMENT BILL.
Read 3a, with the Amendments, and passed, and returned to the Commons.

RETURNS, REPORTS, &c.
Army—

1. Rules for Military Detention Barracks and Military Prisons, Amendments;

2. List of exceptions to the Army Regulations as to Pay, Non-effective Pay and Allowances, sanctioned during the year 1916–1917;

3. Regulations under the Regimental Debts Act, 1893:

Universities (Scotland) Act, 1889—University Court Ordinance, No. 60 (Edinburgh, No. 22) (Institution of a Degree in Commerce, and relative Regulations):
Billeting of Civilians Act, 1917—The County Court (Billeting of Civilians) Rules, 1917, dated 31st July, 1917, made by the Lord Chancellor under the Act:
Trinidad—Rule made by the Governor in Executive Council relative to the Prison Dietary Scale, dated 8th June, 1917:
Laid before the House (pursuant to Act) and ordered to lie on the Table.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 1) BILL.
Read 3a (according to Order), and passed.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 2) BILL.
Amendments reported (according to Order), and Bill to be read 3a to-morrow.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT PROVISIONAL ORDERS (No. 3) BILL.
Read 3a (according to Order), and passed.
MARTIN'S DIVORCE BILL. [H.L.]
Read 3a (according to Order): Drafting Amendments made: Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.

ALLEGED SALE OF HONOURS.
THE EARL OF SELBORNE THE EARL OF SELBORNE had the following Notice on the Paper—
To call attention to the alleged sale of honours; and to ask the Lord President whether, in view of the public uneasiness as to the manner in which recommendations for honours have in the past been made to the Crown and of the widespread belief that such honours have sometimes been granted in return for payments of large sums of money, His Majesty's Government are prepared to agree that the following provisions should have effect—

1. That when any honour or dignity is conferred upon a British subject, other than a member of the Royal Family or the members of the Naval, Military, or permanent Civil Service under the Crown, a definite public statement of the reasons for which it has been recommended to the Crown shall accompany the notification of the grant.

2. That a declaration to the Sovereign be made by the Prime Minister, in recommending any person to His Majesty's favour for any such honour or dignity, that he has satisfied him self that no payment or expectation of payment is directly or indirectly associated with the grant or promise of such honour or dignity.

The noble Earl said: My Lords, I have received private intimation from the noble Earl the Leader of the House that, for a wholly unavoidable reason for which he is not responsible, he cannot be in his place to-day, and therefore it is, of course, necessary for me to adjourn my Question. I pro pose to bring it on at the earliest possible moment.

INCREASED FOOD PRODUCTION (SCOTLAND).
LORD STANMORE: My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Saltoun, I beg to make the Motion standing in his name.
Moved, That there be laid before the House a Return showing the acreage of arable land in each county of Scotland in 1872 and 1915, and the acreage of grass land which should be ploughed up for the harvest of 1918, together with copies of certain letters addressed to District Agricultural Committees by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland—(Lord Stanmore.)
On Question, Motion agreed to, and ordered accordingly.

THE CANNING ENCLOSURE.
THE EARL OF PLYMOUTH: My Lords, I rise to ask the noble Lord who represents the Office of Works whether it is intended to allow the Young Men's Christian Association to erect a hut in the Canning Enclosure. This is a very small bit of ground, and for its size I do not think there could be any other picked out in London which is a greater boon to the public. It is under the shadow almost of the Abbey, and is so situated that at all times of the day it is a delightfully shady spot. Recently I was there quite by chance in the middle of the day, and I found twenty-six people on the eight seats that are there provided. I ask that some undertaking should be given that the proposed building should not be erected on, nor interfere with, any part of the enclosure now open to the public. I am asking this Question on behalf of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association and at the request of my noble friend Lord Meath, who is unable to be present. So far as they are concerned, if the hut is not placed on any part of the ground open to the public they will be quite satisfied. But personally I think that if another site could be found for the very useful work which the Young Men's Christian Association are doing, it would be a great public advantage.
LORD STANMORE: My Lords, the First Commissioner of Works had given permission for a very small hut to be erected in the Canning Enclosure. It was intended as an information bureau to give assistance to sailors and soldiers, and it was to be so arranged as not to interfere with the eight seats mentioned by the noble Earl. In view, however, of protests made by Lord Meath on behalf of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, Sir Alfred Mond has now informed the Young Men's Christian Association that he will have to modify the proposal, and to offer them a site in the neighbourhood on a piece of ground that is not open to the public.

CONSOLIDATED FUND (No. 4) BILL.
Read 2a (according to Order): Committee negatived, and Bill to be read 3a to-morrow.

POLICE CONSTABLES (NAVAL AND MILITARY SERVICE) BILL.
[SECOND READING.]
Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
VISCOUNT SANDHURST: My Lords, this is a very short Bill which has passed
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through the House of Commons without comment. Its object is to remedy an inequality as regards pay and allowances in the case of police constables who joined His Majesty's Forces at the beginning of the war. By Section 1 of the Police Reservists (Allowances) Act, 1914, the amount payable by the police authority to the wife and children of a police constable serving with the Forces is limited to an amount which, with the various allowances, shall not exceed what the police constable was receiving per week when he joined the Forces. But those constables who joined the Forces at a later date are, owing to the pay of the police having been increased and also owing to war bonuses having been given, placed in a better position than those who joined at the beginning of the war. The object of this Bill is to remedy this; and the change is to date from January 15, 1917, the date when the increase in separation allowances took effect. In addition, the Bill enables allowances to continue to be paid for twenty-six weeks after the constable's death, which is the same arrangement as that which exists in the case of widows of officers of local authorities under the Local Government (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1916. The Bill further enables police authorities to make contributions out of the Police Fund to police orphanages.
Moved, That the Bill be now read 2a.—(Viscount Sandhurst.)
On Question, Bill read 2a, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow.

NAVAL DISCIPLINE BILL.
  PUBLIC WORKS LOANS BILL.
    SOLICITORS (EXAMINATION) BILL. [H.L.]
    House in Committee (according to Order): Bills reported without amendment, and to be read 3a to-morrow.
NAVAL AND MILITARY WAR PENSIONS, &c. (TRANSFER Of POWERS) BILL.
Read 3a (according to Order), with the Amendments, and passed, and returned to the Commons.

INCREASED FOOD PRODUCTION (SCOTLAND).
Return respecting: Laid before the House (pursuant to Order of this day) and to be printed. (No. 89.)
House adjourned at a quarter before five o'clock, till to-morrow, a quarter past four o'clock.