MR. LOCKE considered that it would be advisable to repeal the particular Act in question. He did not know, until the Aquarium case came on, that there was such an Act, and no one else seemed to know it. According, however, to the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Salford (Mr. Charley), it was the most delightful Act of Parliament that was ever passed, so that they had all been for so many years past living in a state of happiness without being aware of it. He believed that the great majority of hon. Members did not like to offend a certain class of people, but would be very happy if the Act were repealed. Hon. Members said to the managers of these aquariums and such institutions-"Don't take money on Sundays;" and the persons in authority were willing not to do that; and as to the views taken by the legal faculty of the case tried, the Judges in both the Courts said it was highly improper, or words to that effect, that proceedings should be taken under that Act. No one had spoken in favour of it; and, on the whole, instead of taking the course the Government were now adopting, he considered it would be much better to repeal the Act. ["Order!"]

THE CHAIRMAN said, the hon. and learned Member was not in Order, inasmuch as he was dealing with the first part of a clause not before the Committee.

SIR HENRY JAMES said, it seemed to be the feeling of the House that the measure should only be a temporary one. Whilst the Opposition made no objection to the Government bringing forward a Bill to meet the necessities of the time, surely the Act should only be a temporary one. The powers should apply to the Act which had been referred to, and to that alone. If necessary, let Parliament alter the several laws, but let it be done permanently and after mature consideration, and not in such a Bill as that before the House.

MR. HENLEY said, he should be glad to see the Bill restricted in its operation to one Act of Parliament. Should the Bill pass in its present form he believed it would prove a great curse to any Government that had to carry it out. He would not envy the Home Secretary

between the saints upon the one side and the sinners on the other. The country had not had time to consider the Bill in a more extended sense, and on these questions, between sinners and saints, it was not easy for anybody to come to a conclusion.

MR. MUNTZ urged upon the Government to accept the Amendment. He could not see what object could be gained by the words extending the operation of the Bill to penalties levied under any other Act than this obsolete one of the reign of George III. They ought not to repeal by a vote of this kind provisions of several Acts of which they knew nothing whatever. Dealing summarily as it did with cases such as that before the House, its provisions ought to be carefully considered. The whole Sunday question must soon be carefully considered in an enlightened manner; it could not be shunted much longer.

MR. ASSHETON CROSS said, that as he had stated the other day, no one could look upon this measure, as a satisfactory way of dealing with the question. The whole question of Sunday was a great and important matter, and it was one in which the public took great interest. There were large masses of the people strongly in favour of the observance of Sunday. At the same time, many of the persons who held this view very strongly had not the slightest wish to interfere with the innocent recreation of the masses of the people, always provided that it did not entail compulsory service or work on the part of other persons. The opinions of the highest authorities had been taken to see how the penalties could be legally commuted. The Act had been enforced in one instance, and cases under its provisions were still pending in other instances, connected with places which no person could possibly think were disorderly houses. He could assure the House that he had not the slightest wish that the places should be shut up during the Sunday, and it was because he wished to prevent frivolous and vexatious prosecutions from taking place during the Recess that he ventured to bring forward the present Bill. not wish, however, to take more responsibility on his shoulders than he had need to take, and, as his object was to

He did

ments shall be given to the registrar, and he shall rectify the register accordingly."

THE LORD ADVOCATE said, the paragraph was framed by the Solicitor General for Ireland and himself in conjunction with the Vice President of the Board of Trade, it being thought desirable that causes should be tried in the country in which the mark was registered.

Amendment agreed to; words inserted. Clause, as amended, agreed to.

On the Motion of The LORD ADVOCATE, the following new clause was inserted after Clause 11:

(Saving of proceedings in Scotland and

Ireland).

"Nothing in this Act shall affect the jurisdiction and forms of procedure of the Courts in Scotland and Ireland respectively in any action or proceeding respecting a trade mark hitherto

competent to those Courts."

Bill reported, with Amendments; as amended, considered; read the third time, and passed, with Amendments.

LAND TITLES AND TRANSFER BILL. [BILL 105.]-[Lords.] (Mr. Attorney General.) COMMITTEE. [Progress 28th June.] Bill considered in Committee.

(In the Committee.)

Clause 41 (Transmission on death of freehold land).

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL said, that when the Bill was last in Committee his Amendment was under consideration. He had proposed an Amendment in page 14, line 6, after the word "registrar," to insert the words

"Regard being had to the rights of the several persons interested in such land, and in particular to the selection of such person as may for the time being appear to the registrar to be entitled according to law to be so appointed." Progress was then reported. He had since given the subject his most careful attention, and he still thought his Amendment was the best that could be adopted, and that it would be better to leave the Registrar to select the proper person to be registered than to lay down any definite rule which should be applicable to all cases.

MR. JACKSON regretted that the hon. and learned Gentleman intended to insist on his Amendment. He be

VOL. CCXXVI. [THIRD SERIES.]

Clause, as amended, agreed to.
Clauses 42 to 79, inclusive, agreed to.

Clause 80 (Effect of deposit of land certificate).

MR. JACKSON moved the omission of the clause, on the ground that it would interfere with one of the fundamental objects of the Bill. The clause provided that, subject to any registered estates, charges, or rights, the deposit of the land certificate, in the case of freehold land, and of the office copy of the registered lease in the case of leasehold land, should, for the purpose of creating a lien on the land to which such certificate or lease related, be deemed equivalent to a deposit of the title deeds of the land. One of the objects of the Bill was to prevent the increase of encumbrances, and this clause was inconsistent with that object. There had been a large number of cases in which priority of encumbrances formed the subject of trial, and the question was one which gave rise to a great amount of litigation.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL said, he could not agree with the hon. and learned Gentleman that difficulty and confusion would arise from the clause, nor could he admit that it was inconsistent with the rest of the Bill. The hon. and learned Gentleman had given such a general support to the Bill that he was sorry to have to stand by the clause in opposition to the view entertained by him. It would give an additional facility in many cases to the raising of money for temporary purposes, and he was unable to see any objection to it.

MR. ALFRED MARTEN hoped that his hon. and learned Friend would not press his proposal to a division, having regard to the fact that the Court of Chancery had held that, notwithstanding an Act of Parliament, a deposit of deeds was sufficient to give priority of claim to land.

2 A

continue to subsist in, on, or over the same notwithstanding such removal; but such land,

Clauses 81 to 104, inclusive, agreed to. Clause 105 (Office of land registry, and appointment and payment of officers) MR. ALFRED MÄRTEN moved, as an Amendment, in page 31, line 15, after "standing," insert "the registrar shall hold his office during good behaviour.". He argued that as some of the duties of the registrar would be of a judicial character, he ought to hold his office on the same terms as the Judges, and not as an ordinary civil servant.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL said,

powers shall, from and after such removal, be held, enjoyed, exercised, transferred, transmitted, dealt with, and disposed of in the same manner and with the same incidents and effect in all respects as other unregistered land and similar estates, charges, rights, interests, equities, and powers in, on, or over such land.

to

notices, cautions, inhibitions, or other restrictions upon or against any transfer of or other dealing with registered land shall, so far as the same are applicable, extend to any removal of land from the register; and no removal of any land from the register shall take place without the previous consent, to be testified in the prescribed manner, of every person entitled to any registered charge thereon.'

"All the provisions in this Act contained as

The

power

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause verbally amended, and agreed to. Remaining clauses agreed to, with

Amendments.

On the Motion of Mr. ATTORNEY GENERAL, the following new Clause agreed to, and added to the Bill:

(Registry of land below high water mark.) "If it appears to the registrar that any land application for registration whereof is made to him comprises land below high water mark at ordinary spring tides, he shall not register the land unless and until he is satisfied that at least

one month's notice in writing of the application has been given to the Board of Trade; and in case of land in the county palatine of Lancaster, also to the proper officer of the Duchy of Lancaster; and in case of land in the counties of Cornwall or Devon, also to the proper officer of the Duke of Cornwall; and in all other cases also to the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues."

MR. ALFRED MARTEN moved, after Clause 59, to insert the following Clause:

(Power to remove land from register.) "Every registered proprietor of freehold or leasehold land may, in the prescribed manner, remove such land or any part thereof from the register.

"The removal shall be completed by the registrar entering on the register a minute thereof.

"All estates, charges, rights, interests, equities, and powers, subsisting in, on, or over any land

out the power, many would not try the experiment. Conveyancing Counsel and Solicitors would in many cases decline to advise their clients to adopt a registration, which was to be final in its character, and the benefits of which remained to be ascertained by experience. The clause had been, he said, approved by the hon. Member for East Sussex (Mr. Gregory).

MR. JACKSON expressed an opinion that without a provision of the kind the Act would be a dead letter. The Act was entirely experimental, and prudent solicitors would not put their clients' property in a position from which, if the Act did not work well, it could not be withdrawn.

MR. STAVELEY HILL could not conceive anything more calculated to create confusion.

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL said, he must remind hon. Members that the House of Lords, after full consideration, had come to the conclusion that it was not desirable to give the power. No sufficient reason had been adduced in support of the clause.

Clause negatived.

Bill reported, with Amendments; as amended, to be considered upon Monday,

CONSPIRACY, AND PROTECTION OF PROPERTY BILL. CONSIDERATION OF LORDS' AMENDMENTS. Lords' Amendments considered. Amendments, as far as Clause 6, page 3, agreed to.

Clause 8, page 3, line 23, leave out from ("doing") to the end of the Clause, and insert

46

("wrongfully and without legal authority,1: Uses violence to or intimidates such other person or his wife or children, or injures his property; or,

2. Persistently follows such other person about from place to place; or,

"3. Hides any tools, clothes, or other property owned or used by such other person, or deprives him of or hinders him in the use thereof; or,

"4. Watches or besets the house or other place where such other person resides or works or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place; or,

5. Follows such other person with two or more other persons in a disorderly manner in or through any street or road,

shall on conviction thereof by a court of summary jurisdiction, or on indictment as hereinafter mentioned, be liable either to pay a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, or to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour:

"Attending at or near the house or place where a person resides, or works, or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place, in order merely to obtain or communicate information, and not with a view to intimidate or to deter by serious annoyance such person from doing or abstaining from doing that which he has a legal right to do or abstain from doing, shall not be deemed a watching or besetting within the meaning of this section) :"—

The next Amendment read a second time.

MR. HOPWOOD said, that Clause 5 left the House with the words "of service or of hiring," and it had been returned by the Lords with "or" changed into "and." For that change there was no trace of any Amendment having been moved in the other House, and that being so, he believed that, according to the practice of the House, they were entitled to adhere to the clause in the form in which it left that House.

MR. ASSHETON CROSS explained that the words had been altered by the officers in the other House from no political motive, but under the idea that the alteration was necessary for the intention and sense of the clause. The Amendment had not been communi

cated, however, and he should wish to have the opinion of the right hon. Gentleman in the Chair upon the facts before the House.

MR. SPEAKER said, that no Amendment having been communicated to this House by the House of Lords, this House could not take notice of what had not been communicated to it.

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE observed that it was clear that the gravest inconvenience might arise from an alteration being made in a Bill under such circumstances, and at the very close of the Session.

LORD JOHN MANNERS pointed out that on former occasions, when a similar thing had occurred, the mistake had been once rectified by the officers of the other House, and the same course would, no doubt, be again followed in this instance.

MR. SPEAKER said, he believed that the alteration in the printed Bill had been accidental, and this House could only deal with the Bill as it came from the House of Lords.

MR. LOWE who had given Notice of his intention to move the omission of the clause in lieu thereof, said, that a clause clause, and the substitution of a new which had been much discussed in the House had come back in a new shape, but anxious as he had been that it should not apply invidiously to any portion of Her Majesty's subjects, he thought it extremely doubtful whether the clause, as it originally stood, was not better than the one sent down from the

Lords. He was surprised at this, because it had been announced, with some flourish of trumpets, that it was fortunate we had a House of Lords, which took a calm view of these things. He thought it was a matter of great rashness at that late period of the Session to have introduced two new offences into the Bill, and there could be no doubt but the change which had been made, if it remained unaltered, would give rise to an enormous amount of litigation, and to long and envenomed contests between masters and men. For instance, it was now stipulated that a person influencing another must, before becoming liable, do so "wrongfully." The extraordinary result of that was, that a man might use violence or intimidate a person, but he would not be guilty of an offence unless he could be proved to have