TRADE AND COMMERCE-THE ANGLO- MR. S. SMITH (Flintshire) asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he could inform the House what steps had been taken by Her Majesty's Government and the Spanish Government respectively to carry out the terms of the Commercial Convention recently concluded with Spain; and, whether the Convention would come into force on July 1, as specified in Article 1? MR. LEVESON GOWER (A LORD' of the TREASURY) (Stafford, N.W.) (who replied) said: The First Commissioner of Works yesterday received a long Report from Mr. Shone on the manner in which his system of drainage, which was recommended by the Select Committee, could be applied to the Houses of Parliament. After a conference this morning, Mr. Shone has undertaken to supply further details, more especially on the point of the practicability of carrying out these works in a short time. Of course, the time that will be available will very much depend on whether the House meets next month or in October. The First Commissioner of Works sees reason to hope that plans may be prepared which would give effect to the main recommendations of the Committeenamely, that the sewage of the House should no longer be carried away by gravitation only. I may assure the House that every exertion will be made to carry out any works that can be com-scale for the Wine Duties which is provided for therein. Her Majesty's Governpleted at the earliest possible moment. THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.): In reply to the Question of my hon. Friend, I may inform him that, as the House is aware, by the Customs Bill, which passed the House of Lords yesterday and now awaits the Royal Assent, Her Majesty's Government are empowered, on a day hereafter to be fixed, to carry out the terms of the Convention as regards the alteration in the division of the alcoholic SIR WALTER B. BARTTELOT ment will, therefore, be at once in a (Sussex, Horsham) said, he would like position to perform the part of the ento have some assurance from the Secre-gagement undertaken by this country. tary to the Treasury that the works would for a certainty be commenced and carried out during the Recess. They had suffered very much during the present Session, and they should be anxious that the new House of Parliament should, at any rate, have to thank this House of Parliament for having, to the best of their power and ability, insisted on some proper drainage being carried out. He, therefore, asked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he would give an assurance that works would be carried out to effect the object which they had in view? THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY Mr. HENRY H. FOWLER) (Wolverhampton, E.; said that, so far as the Treasury was concerned, there should be no lack of zeal in the matter. The Treasury only had to find the money, but the First Commissioner had to decide on the works; and when he had satisfied himself as to the proper course to be adopted in order to make the House sanitarily safe he could assure his hon. Friend that the authorities at the Treasury would do their best not to oppose any technical or financial obstacle, to the carrying out of the works. With regard to the Spanish Government, it appears that some unavoidable delay has taken place, and I fear that the consent of the Spanish Cortes to the Convention will not be obtained in time to allow of its coming into force on the date fixed-namely, July 1. In accordance, therefore, with the terms of Article 1, it will become necessary to fix a later date; and Sir Clare Ford has been instructed to approach the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs with a view to securing that a date as early as possible and, it is hoped, one falling in the month of July-shall be fixed for the full execution of the Convention. No time will be lost in giving the fullest publicity to whatever arrangements may be made on this subject. IRISH LAND ACT, 1870--SEC. 9- DR. TANNER (Cork Co., Mid asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether, considering the extreme depression and the advantage being taken of it by evicting landlords in furthering evictions to promote exasperation and foment discontent, the Government will direct the attention of the County Court and other Judges in Ireland to their powers to stay execution in all cases of evictions for arrears of exorbitant rent under Section 9 of the Irish Land Act of 1870, where injustice or hardship may be influted upon the tenant by its inmediato issue, as has been done recently by Mr. Waters, Q.C., the County Court Judge for the county of Waterford? THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. STANS FELD Halifax who replied) said: The Executive Government have no control over the Judges, and no power to make any suggestion as to the mode in which they should exercise their judicial functions. DR TANNER: Am I to understand that the Government cannot practically give any recommendation to the County Court Judges or other Judges that they should act in the manner indicated under the circumstances? were worth pressing the clause providing for the payment of the Returning Officers' expenses out of the rates at a late peried of the Session at all, he regretted that those who pressed it had not carried the fight to the fullest extent. He had placed on the Paper a clause making candidates, who did not poll one fourth of the quota electing, responsible for a share of the election expenses; and though he withdrew this in deference to a generally expressed wish to avoid contentious discussion at that stage, he should certainly, if he had the opportunity, renew that, or a like restriction, on improvident candidatures. S:R RICHARD WEBSTER 'Isle of Wight wished to know what course Her Majesty's Government proposed to take with regard to this Bill? For his own part, he did not think that the House had sufficient information before them to enable them to decide as to MR. STANSFELD: Clearly it does what were and what were not proper not require an Irish Secretary to say charges. In 1875 the Schedule was that such a proceeding wou'd be entirely most carefully considered by a Select out of order. The first principle of our Committee, and he considered it a proper jurisprudence is that Judges are inde-course that a Committee should inquire pendent. ORDERS OF THE DAY. PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS RE- MINIS. into the matter. MR. T. H. BOLTON (St. Pancras, N.) complained of the want of uniformity in the Returning Officers' charges. He thought that the sums fixed by the Schedules were sufficient to enable the Returning Officers to discharge their duties; and, therefore, he hoped that the House would adhere to them. COLONEL KING-HARMAN (Kent, Isle of Thanet) said, he understood Order for Consideration of Lords that the hon. and learned Member for A mendments forthwith read. MR. SEXTON Sligo, S. said, that in regard to the Irish Bill the Lords had gone about its consideration in a very thorough manner, for they had cut it all away except the 1st clause and a short title. They had cut out to clause providing for the payment of the Returning Officers' expenses out of therates; but the Schedule which dealt with the cheapening of expenses would have been very useful. He hoped the House would disagree with the Lords as regarded the clauses struck out. Mя. BRADLAUGH (Northampton said that, in the absence of his hon Colleague Mr. Labouchere, he should not resist any Motion to agree with the Lords' South Londonderry would be satisfied if the Bill were restored to the shape in which it was originally introduced into that House. He hoped that the House would agree to the Lords' Amendments. MR. LABOUCHERE Northampton) sail, that the 2nd and 3rd clauses, throwing the expenses of Returning Officers upon the rates and reducing the maximum charges, had been thrown out by the House of Lords. When the questions were under discussion in the House of Commons an hon. Member on the Front Opposition Bench got up and said the Bill was certain to be thrown out by the House of Lords, which was a monstrous assertion to nake. He was pre thrown on the rates. He thought it a most questionable thing for hon. Members to transfer a charge amounting to £250,000 from its own shoulders on to those of their constituents on the eve of an election. Moreover, the principal clause in the Bill of which so much had been heard was introduced at the last moment, and that at a very late hour of the night, when the attendance of Members was small. He hoped the Government would adhere to the arrangement which had been arrived at, and take an early opportunity, if in Office next Session, of appointing a Committee to inquire into the charges of Returning Officers. one side a mass of Conservative Peers | proved of the expense of elections being and very few on the other. Lord Salisbury got up and said he would only allow the Bill to pass if these clauses were struck out. It was making a perfect farce of representative government if the House of Commons was to be threatened that a Bill would be thrown out by the House of Lords, and when it was in that House a Peer was to rise and say it should not pass unless those two clauses were strack out. He was not going to argue that they should dis agree with the House of Lords, because at this period that could not be done. The House of Commons were in the position of slaves to the Conservative Leader of the House of Lords, and he thought that a monstrous position. The mode of election concerned the Members of the House of Commons very vitally. They heard a great deal at the present time of long purses being subscribed for the defeat of certain candidates. [Cries of "Question!"] COLONEL KING - HARMAN asked whether the hon. Member for Northampton was in Order? MR. SPEAKER said, he thought the hon. Member was not confining himself strictly to the Question. MR. LABOUCHERE said, he was merely pointing out that it had been stated in the newspapers that large sums of money were being subscribed by the opponents of the present Government, and that, in the opinion of those gentlemen, it was most essential that they should have money on their side. This Bill, if those clauses had been retained, would have enabled poor men to send poor men to Parliament; it would have enabled electors to choose Representatives for themselves, instead of having Representatives chosen for them. The House of Lords had chosen to alter that, and he left the country to form an opinion as to their conduct. SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL (Kirkcaldy, &c.) said, he sympathized with what had been stated, but pointed out that unless the Lords' Amendments were agreed to the Bill would be lest. That he thought was very hard. MR. BRODRICK Surrey, Guildford said, he considered the action of the House of Lords with respect to the Schedule was perfectly justitiable. The country had never been consulted. He doubted whether the country would have ap SIR JOSEPH M'KENNA (Monaghan, S.) said, he regretted that the Schedule had been struck out, but trusted that the Bill, curtailed as it was, would be allowed to pass, because it was better to have half a Bill than none at all. THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. STANSFELD) Halifax) said that, so far as the Members of the Government in the House of Lords were concerned, in the action they had taken they had submitted to superior force. It was not a fair inference on the part of hon. Members to suppose that they were convinced by the arguments of those who excluded the Schedule from the Bill. But the real difficulty was that there was no time for conflict with the other House; and if the Bill was not accepted in its present state it would not pass into law at all this Session. As far as Great Britain was concerned, there was not a case to press against the House of Lords. The simple Bill originally introduced had been enlarged in its scope by the insertion of a clause; and he was not prepared to say that the House of Lords had exceeded their legislative rights in rejecting these particular provisions. He suggested to hon. and right hon. Gentlemen opposite, however, whether some compromise might not be arrived at as to the scale of Irish Returning Officers' charges being treated differently from those connected with England and Scotland. MR. ROUND Essex, N.E., Harwich) maintained that the House of Lords was acting quite within their duty, and with the entire approval of the country, in resisting the placing of Returning Offi- | said they would throw out the Bill altocers' charges on the rates. gether unless it was reduced to the Appeal Clause. He sympathized very much with his Irish Friends as to this Schedule, and if he might advise them it would be not to mix the Irish Sche MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E) said, that any undue insistance on the restoration of this Bill to the condition in which it previously left the House of Commons would certainly im-dule in future with the English scale of peril its passing into law this year. If the Bill was desired, therefore, it was necessary that they should not prove unduly obstinate on the present occasion. Much labour had been devoted to the drafting of the measure, and he appealed to hon. Members to assist in allowing so much of the Bill as referred to Ireland to pass. charges. The whole scale in Ireland ought to be at a much lower rate. They had better take the Bill as it came down from the Lords-half a loaf was better than no bread. Enormous injustice was done at the last Election in consequence of there being no appeal from the taxing master. He, therefore, thought they should secure the advantages of the MR. W. H. SMITH Strand, West- appeal, and it would be the absolute minster said, that, speaking for his duty of the next Parliament to have a Friends on the Front Opposition Bench, Committee appointed at the very comhe should have been glad if it were pos- mencement to consider on proper evisible at that time to arrive at any com-dence the whole question of the Returnpromise which would legitimately reduce ing Officers' charges. the cost of elections; but, unfortunately, MR. MOLLOY King's Co., Birr, obthere was no time for any such compro- served that the appeal was absolutely mise. In the House of Lords on Tues-worthless. He thought the most digday, it was, he believed, stated on the nified course would be to throw out the part of the Government there that if the Lords' Amendments altogether. Bill came back to the House of Lords consisting of anything more than the appeal for the taxation of charges the Members of the Government present pledged themselves not to press their Lordships to accept the Amendments. That engagement having been entered MR. SEXTON Sligo, S. hoped he into in the other House by the Govern- might, by the indulgence of the House, ment, he thought it was hopeless to be allowed to say he had been in comexpect that any compromise could be munication with his hon. and learned arranged or settled now. He would ap. Friend the Member for South Derry peal to hon. Gentlemen whether it would Mr. T. M. Healy, and he was disposed not be better, in all the circumstances, to take the view that it was better to to stand by the arrangement made in have the Appeal Clauses than nothing. the House of Lords, and leave the Sche- | dule as to rates to a future Parliament ? It had been urged, with considerable | force, that sufficient time had not been given for the consideration of the Schedule. Members of Parliament themselves had an interest in seeing that the scale should not be excessive, and no effort should be wan'ing on the part of those with whom he acted to secure that result in an early Session. THE SECRETARY TO THE TREA SURY (Mr. HENRY H. FOWLER Wolverhampton, E said, he agreed en tirely with the very sensible remarks made by the right hon. Member for the Strand Mr. W. H. Smith. They were in a position in which time was abso DR. COMMINS Roscommon, S.) said, he agreed with his hon. Friend. The Appeal Clause would be worthless. In many cases the cost of the appeal would be more than the amount in dispute. SIR JOHN SWINBURNE Staffordshire, Lichfield denied that the Bill had been sprung upon the country, as stated in the House of Lords, and as had just been stated from the Tory Benches by the hon. Member for the Guildford Division of Surrey Mr. Brodrick). Night after night the debate on the Bill came on, but was adjourned to suit the convenience of the Tory Members oppoI site, and to allow of the question being thoroughly debated on both sides of the House; and it was monstrous now to declare that the House had been taken by surprise and the subject sprung on the country. Lords' Amendments considered, and RETURNING OFFICERS' CHARGES (SCOTLAND) BILL. CONSIDERATION OF LORDS' AMENDMENTS. MR. J. WILSON (Edinburgh, Central) observed that it was distressing that such a good and valuable Bill should be thrown out at that stage. With reference to the hints about money being collected in certain quarters to oppose the present Government [Cries of "Order!"] MR. SPEAKER said, that the hon. Member was out of Order in introducing matters which had nothing to do with the Question before the House. MR. MARJORIBANKS (Berwickshire) said, communications had taken place with the Sheriffs throughout Scotland; and these gentlemen had generally agreed, as far as possible, to make their charges conform to the Schedule of charges set down by the Lord Advocate, but which had been struck out of the Bill by the House of Lords. the Universities of Aberdeen and St. Andrew's, although their case, and especially the case of Aberdeen, was a much stronger one than that of Victoria University and the University of Durham. That mistake had been corrected in the other House, and he hoped the Lords' Amendments would Aberdeen University be agreed to. was a Medical School, and the Univer- the nomination of a member to the cal Council. It had been said that under the present Medical Act Universities were linked together in sending representatives to the Medical Council. At present the University of Glasgow and the University of St. Andrew's were linked together for that purpose. But Lords' Amendments considered, and the practice did not work satisfactorily. agreed to. MEDICAL ACTS AMENDMENT BILL. CONSIDERATION OF LORDS' AMENDMENTS. Order for Consideration of Lords' Amendments forthwith read. Lords' Amendments considered. DR. TANNER Cork Co., Mid) remarked, that when the Bill was under discussion in that House a division was taken on the point whether the Universities of Aberdeen and St. Andrew's should each have a Member, or whether giving one Member to each University. MR. J. A. CAMPBELL Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities) said, that after giving to the Victoria University and the University of Durham each one representative on the Medical Council the House refused to do the same justice to It was found to be exceedingly objectionable that a large Medical School such as the University of Glasgow should not have the power to nominate a member of the Medical Council without reference to the University of St. Andrew's, which was | entirely on a different footing in regard raised on the previous occasion that to medical education. An objection was ment of the Lords would increase too what was now proposed by the Amendmuch the representation of Universities on the Medical Council; but he would point out that the University of St. Andrew's might be regarded more as representing Medical Corporations than Únidone kept the proportion as it was at preversities, so that what the Lords had sent. THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL Sir LYON PLAYFAIR Leeds, S. said, that though he considered the arrangement in the Bill as he introduced it the best, yet, the House of Commons having divided Victoria University and the University of Durham, and as these two Scottish Universities were the only Bodies of the kind united for this purpose, he voted for a proposal to separate them as a logical consequence of the other decision. He thought they should agree to the Lords' Amendment. |