"Absolute owner' means the owner or per- | son capable of disposing, by appointment or otherwise, of the fee simple or whole interest of or in freehold, copyhold, or leasehold land, although his interest is encumbered or charged to any extent." Amendment agreed to. Clause, as amended, agreed to. Clause 7 (Amount of tenant's compensation for first and second class). MR. GREGORY moved, in page 3, line 24, to leave out "But so that where the landlord was not, at the time of the consent given to the execution of the improvement, absolute owner of the holding for his own benefit." His object was to simplify the proceedings before the referees with regard to the legal title of the owner to the property. Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Bill?" THE ATTORNEY GENERAL said, that the effect of the Amendment would be to restrict the extent to which a tenant could go in the way of improvements of the first class. A check which was necessary on limited owners was not required in the case of absolute ownrs. amount of compensation. He thought the proper course would be to dispose of the original Amendment first. THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON was of opinion that the Committee would thereby be placed in a false position. MR. GOLDSMID hoped the Committee would see its way to adopt the Amendment of his hon. Friend (Mr. Gregory). MR. MELDON hoped, under all the circumstances, that the Committee would not pass this clause. SIR HENRY JAMES trusted that the Amendment suggested by his noble Friend would be accepted. MR. RODWELL, as author of the clause, defended it, and left it in the hands of the Government, who had adopted it. MR. GREGORY said, he could not consent to accept the Amendment of the noble Lord (the Marquess of Hartington). MR. JACKSON said, the same principle ought to be employed between the landlord and tenant as between the real owner and the remainderman. MR. KNIGHT said, that subject had discussed three times before, and a compromise had been come to in regard to THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON it, which ought not to be disturbed. He did not see that at the stage which they hoped the noble Marquess would not had now reached they required this let-press his Amendment. ting value at all. As far as could be THOMAS ACLAND hoped understood it had been introduced for the House would adopt the view of his the protection of the remainderman; but hon. Friend near him (Mr. Jackson), the remainderman had no interest in who placed the question so clearly bethe amount of compensation. As an Amendment to the Amendment of the hon. Member for East Sussex, he begged to move the omission of the words limiting the amount of compensation to the addition made to the letting value. Amendment proposed to the said proposed Amendment, to add to the words proposed to be left out— "The amount of the compensation shall not exceed a capital sum fairly representing the addition which the improvement as far as it continues unexhausted at the determination of the tenancy then makes to the letting value of the holding.”—(The Marquess of Hartington.) Question proposed, "That those words be added to the said proposed Amend ment." MR. HUNT observed, that the noble Lord had said that the remainderman had no interest in the amount of compensation, but only on the amount of charge. The amount of charge must depend on the SIR fore them. Question put. The House divided:-Ayes 57; Noes 105: Majority 48. MR. GREGORY then withdrew his Amendment, remarking that the Bill, as it stood, was very favourable for members of his profession. MR. HUNT said, he proposed to take rather an unusual course, but he thought the clause should be properly divided into two. He therefore proposed that the clause Clause 7 should end at line 30, after the word "holding." Clause 7 into two Clauses, the first ing," in line 30.—(Mr. Hunt.) Question, "That Clause 7 be so divided," put, and agreed to. Clause agreed to. Clause 11 (Restrictions as to third | year, it would be ungracious to clog that class). MR. HUNT moved in page 4, line 11, to leave out "ascertaining," and insert "the ascertainment of." concession with unnecessary restrictions, and the law of distress sufficiently protected the landlord's rent. This Amendment had been somewhat hastily acceded to by the Government; and as he under MR. GOLDSMID desired to know why it was proposed to restore the word "as-stood that many Gentlemen who had certainment" which was struck out in Committee, and which it was admitted by the Prime Minister was not good English. Clause 14 (Tenants compensation for breach of Covenant). MR. KNIGHT moved the omission of the word "custom," which he said was vague, and would lead to a great deal of cross swearing. MR. HUNT assented to the Amendment. Amendment agreed to. Clause, as amended, agreed to. Clause 15 (Landlord's title to compensation). SIR HENRY JAMES proposed to leave out the words "or permits waste or commits" in order that a tenant should not be placed in a false position in case he should convert pasture into arable or vice versa. voted for it desired its omission, he would not argue the question at length, if his right hon. Friend (Mr. Hunt) was of the same opinion. Amendment agreed to. Clause 49 (Application of Act to existing tenancies). THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON proposed to leave out, in line 3, the words "or at will," and insert "where there is a written agreement." Amendment proposed,' In page 14, lines 3 and 4, to leave out the words "or at will," and insert the words "where there is a written agreement,"-(The Marquess of Hartington,) -instead thereof. MR. HUNT could not accept the Amendment. Question, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Bill," put, and agreed to. Clause agreed to. Bill re-committed in respect of Clauses 11 and 35; considered in Committee, and reported; as amended, considered :-Bill to be read the third time To-morrow. RESTRICTION OF PENAL ACTIONS AND REMISSION OF PENALTIES BILL. (Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, Mr. Secretary Cross.) [BILL 267.] SECOND READING. Order for Second Reading read. MR. WHITWELL explained his reasons for opposing the second reading of this Bill the other evening, and, while he did not admire the lines upon which the Legislature proceeded, yet he quite sympathized with the difficulties of the case. He should have preferred this Bill being withdrawn altogether, and the particular alterations now proposed introduced by themselves. Again, instead of the Bill being made applicable to certain cases only, it should have been on a broad scale. SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON said, the late period of the Session prevented him following out the idea of the hon. Member. He, the other evening, | the question of civil and religious liberty indicated the course the Government became an important point in its conwere prepared to take on the question. sideration for the time being. As nobody He proposed to ask the House to read the was compelled to go to the Aquarium Bill a second time, upon the distinct un- on a Sunday, to prevent anyone's going derstanding that the first clause should there on that day who desired to do so be omitted, so as to render it a measure was a piece of gross tyranny which simply extending the powers now pos- ought not to be permitted by the Legis sessed by the Secretary of State for the lature. He supposed the Bill was only remission of penalties in criminal cases intended as a temporary measure; but to a similar remission of penalties in civil if the Government did not determine to cases. That would operate as a whole- repeal that Act next year, he should some restraint upon vexatious actions make a Motion to that effect. under the old law, while, on the other hand, it would not introduce that entire relaxation which would undoubtedly follow upon the repeal of that law itself. He therefore hoped that the House would now assent to the second reading of the measure. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."-(Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson.) MR. P. A. TAYLOR observed, that the Act was passed for an entirely different purpose from that to which it had been applied, and it was merely by accident, as it were, that it was made to bear on the case of the Aquarium. The state of things which it was intended to meet having passed away, what should have been done was simply to repeal it, and had the Government determined to do so, it would have been supported by the general feeling of the country. The truth was that they coquetted with the question, and they gave encouragement to a small body of Sabbatarains by showing that they were afraid to go a step further than they proposed to go. This Bill, however, was permissive legislation in its worst form, because it was not dependent on the will of the people, but upon the will of the Government. He thought that whatever laws the people were called upon to obey, they should be able to find them in the Statute Book if they did not form part of the Common Law. The fact was, the whole state of Sunday legislation was getting into inextricable confusion. In the case of Sunday trading, a Permissive Act had been passed, making the execution of the law dependent on the will of the chief police authority of the district, or of two magistrates. This confusion was doing a great deal of harm; for opinion was much divided on the subject, and MR. SAMPSON LLOYD said, that if a majority of the country were found to be in favour of the views of the hon. Member for Leicester, he should be ready to bow to that decision; but at present he was bound to recognize that the great preponderance of public opinion was the other way. He protested against a question of that importance being so dealt with at the end of the Session. MR. LOCKE thought it quite absurd to suppose that in a place like Brighton the people should not have the opportunity of frequenting a place of amusement. The hon. Gentleman who had just spoken was amongst that class who were desirous of preventing anybody from being comfortable on a Sunday. He saw on all sides a class of people who endeavoured to interfere with the lower classes, or whatever they might choose to call them, in this country. He had the honour of being Recorder of that place where this dreadful affair arose. Nobody ever thought for one moment that there was any inconvenience caused to the most righteous people in this country from the fact that bodies of people went into that place of fishes, and to look at fishes. Heaven and earth! could it be said that looking at fishes on a Sunday was a wicked thing? How could anybody suppose that this country was to be regulated by a class of persons who entertained views of the most disagreeable nature, and that nobody was to be allowed to do what he liked? And if they had put themselves in that posi tion that in the next world they would have to suffer, what consequence was it to his hon. Friend sitting opposite? It would not hurt him. He had always thought that there were a class of persong who called themselves extremely religious-more religious than anybody else-but he should like to know whe ther they took their religiousness out of the Bible or no. They had an opinion of their own; they worked away to make everybody uncomfortable; and they were the most disagreeable people in the world. The right way of proceeding would have been to repeal the old Act, and then everything would have gone on properly. He was sorry that had not been done; but, at the same time, the people would get something. It was now proposed that the Home Office should protect those persons who went to amuse themselves in the Aquarium, or the Botanical Gardens, or other places that were pleasant and agreeable on Sunday, and who did no harm to anybody, and he thought that in this respect the Government had acted very cleverly. He congratulated the Government on the course they had taken, and hoped they had now got rid of all the ridiculous rubbish he had heard in the House ever since he had been a Member of it, to prevent the great body of the working classes from enjoying themselves just as they pleased, so long as they did not interfere with the rest of the country. MR. ASSHETON CROSS did not pretend for a moment that this Bill could be looked upon as a settlement of the general question. That question, if brought under discussion, would inevitably raise a great deal of feeling on both sides throughout the country. Among the working classes, as well as in other sections of the community, there were, no doubt, many who believed that the Sunday ought to be strictly a day of rest. At the same time he, for one, did not wish to deprive people of the means of recreation on that day. It seemed to him that those who sought, as in the case of the Brighton Aquarium, to put in force the Act to which the present Bill referred, were really taking the strongest step possible to secure the repeal of that Act. SIR HENRY JAMES inquired whether the Bill might be taken as a temporary measure, because it gave immense power, not only in the remission of penalties in all actions in which they were recoverable, but even in political trials. He would suggest that, instead of the Crown having the power to remit the penalties, they should prevent the informers getting them. The money should go into the hands of the Crown instead of into the pockets of private informers. Motion agreed to. Bill read a second time, and committed for To-morrow. SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE ACT (1873) AMENDMENT (No. 2) BILL. (Mr. Attorney General.) [Lords.] [BILL 162.] COMMITTEE. [Progress 4th August.] Bill considered in Committee. (In the Committee.) SIR HENRY JAMES said, that he would withdraw his Amendment, which was under discussion when the Committee last reported Progress, and bring it forward at the next stage. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL was obliged to his hon. and learned Friend, and as the hon. Members for Chatham and Liverpool were not present their Amendments could also be taken on the Report. On the Motion of Mr. ATTORNEY GE NERAL an Amendment was made in postber of 15 Judges. poned Clause 3, retaining the full num Clause, as amended, agreed to. Bill reported, with Amendments; as amended, to be considered To-morrow. POST OFFICE (SUPERANNUATION AND GRATUITIES) BILL.-[BILL 245.] (Mr. William Henry Smith, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer.) BILL WITHDRAWN. MR. W. H. SMITH moved that the Order for Committee be discharged in order that a proper schedule of the officers who would be entitled to benefit by the measure might be prepared before its reintroduction next Session. Motion agreed to. Order discharged. Bill withdrawn. DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND ART BILL.-[Lords.] [BILL 283.] (Viscount Sandon.) SECOND READING. Order for Second Reading read. VISCOUNT SANDON, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, the object of the measure was to enable the Department of Science and Art to receive bequests of real property. That high-minded and liberal man, Sir Joseph Whitworth, had expressed a wish to add to the benefactions he had already given to the country. Sir Joseph Whitworth had endowed a scholarship of mechanical industry, to the amount of £3,000 a-year, in connection with the South Kensington Museum, and he now wished to increase that benefaction still further by making a larger endowment of a more permanent character, by bequeathing certain lands of great value to the Science and Art Department. He had expressed his own strong conviction that the maintenance by this country of her superiority in the mechanical arts depended upon her sons having the highest training in science as applied to these arts, and, for this purpose, he had communicated to Her Majesty's Government his wish to make hereafter this noble gift to the nation. It was impossible, however, to effect that object under the statute of Mortmain, and the Government thought they were only interpreting the wishes of the nation by enabling Sir Joseph Whitworth to carry out his admirable object through means of this Bill, which would confer on the Department powers similar to those already conferred on the British Museum. Sir Joseph Whitworth had enhanced still further the value of his gift by making it a condition that the bequest should be subject to the discretion of Parliament, so as to be altered if necessary to suit the varying circumstances of the time. He need hardly say that the Government had the greatest pleasure in doing all in their power to meet the wishes of this distinguished gentleman, and he felt sure that he was only expressing the sentiments of all the hon. Members of that House, when he said that, though this noble act could not add to the position which Sir Joseph Whitworth occupied most justly in the civilized world, it would establish a fresh claim to the affection and respect with which his name was regarded by his countrymen. Motion agreed to. FOREIGN JURISDICTION BILL.-[Lords.] (Mr. Bourke.) [BILL 284.] SECOND READING. Order for Second Reading read. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."-(Mr. Bourke.) required some discussion, and on account MR. JACKSON thought the measure of the lateness of the hour moved the adjournment of the debate. Motion agreed to. Debate adjourned till To-morrow. PUBLIC WORKS LOAN BILL—[BILL 269.] (Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. William Henry Smith.) CONSIDERATION. Bill as amended, considered. MR. STEVENSON moved, as an Amendment, in page 5, line 24, to add at end of clause the following Proviso: of principal moneys due by any harbour autho "Provided, that when the aggregate amount rity to the Commissioners under The Harbours and Passing Tolls, &c. Act, 1861,' exceeds one hundred thousand pounds, the rate of interest on such excess shall be three and a half per cent. or such higher rate, not exceeding five per cent., as may in the judgment of the Treasury be necessary to enable the loan to be made without loss to the Exchequer." THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHE QUER consented to the Amendment. Amendment agreed to; words inserted. WAYS AND MEANS. Resolution [August 4] reported, and agreed to. CONSOLIDATED FUND (APPROPRIATION) BILL. On Motion of Mr. RAIKES, Bill to apply a sum, out of the Consolidated Fund, to the service of the year ending the thirty-first day of March one thousand eight hundred and seventysix, and to appropriate the Supplies granted in this Session of Parliament, ordered to be brought in by Mr. RAIKES, Mr. CHANCELLOR of the Bill read a second time, and committed EXCHEQUER, and Mr. WILLIAM HENRY SMITH. Bill presented, and read the first time. for To-morrow. House adjourned at half after One o'clock. |