Question put, "That the word 'Wednesday' stand part of the Question: " -The House divided; Ayes 50, Noes 27; Majority 23. Main Question, "That this House will, upon Wednesday next, resolve itself into the said Committee," put:-The House divided; Ayes 53, Noes 24; Majority 29:-Committee deferred till Wednesday. PARLIAMENT ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE- Moved, "That the House, at its rising, do adjourn till Wednesday, at Two of the clock,"-(Mr. W. H. Smith :)-After short debate, Motion Ordered, That every Select Committee having power to send for persons, papers, and records, shall have leave to report their opinion and observations, together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before them, to the House, and also to make a Special Report of any matters which they may think fit to bring to the notice of the Ordered, That the said Resolution be made a Standing Order of the House.--(Mr. Supreme Court of Judicature Act (1873) Amendment (No. 2) Bill (Lords)— Lords Amendments to Commons Amendments to be considered forthwith. Resolved, That this House doth agree to the Amendments made by the Lords to the Amendments made by this House; and do not insist on the Amendments to which the Lords have disagreed. Moved, "That the Standing Orders relating to Private Bills be vacated for the pur- pose of rearranging and amending the same, and that the said Orders so re-arranged Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a,"-(The Earl of Donoughmore) After short debate, Motion agreed to:-Bill read 2, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House To-morrow. Unseaworthy Ships Bill (No. 265)-— House in Committee (according to Order) Bill reported without Amendment; Amendment made; and Bill to be COMMONS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11. MERCHANT SHIPPING ACTS, 1871 AND 1873-PROSECUTIONS FOR UNSEAWORTHY MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT, 1873-SEAMEN REFUSING TO GO TO SEA-Question, Mr. E. J. Reed; Answer, Mr. Assheton Cross UNSEAWORTHY SHIPS BILL-DECK CARGOES-Question, Mr. E. J. Reed; IRELAND INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION-MODEL SCHOOLS-Question, Mr. Ward; RAILWAY TRAINS-COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS Question, Mr. H. B. Sheridan; Answer, Sir Charles Adderley POST OFFICE THE TREASURY COMMISSION ON TELEGRAPHS Question, Mr. E. J. Reed; Answer, Lord John Manners NAVY-REPORTED DISORDERS ON BOARD H.M.S. "TRIUMPH "-Question, Mr. E. J. Reed; Answer, Mr. Hunt LANDED ESTATES COURT (IRELAND) - Question, Mr. Kavanagh; Answer, LAW AND JUSTICE-DEGREE OF SERJEANT-AT-LAW-Question, Sir Charles Page 850 852 CRIMINAL LAW-THE CASE OF COLONEL BAKER Jenkins; Answer, Mr. Assheton Cross METROPOLIS-LIGHTING OF ST. JAMES'S PARK-Question, Mr. J. G. Talbot'; After short debate, Motion agreed to:-Order discharged :—Bill with- drawn. Committee appointed, "to draw up Reasons to be assigned to The Lords for disagreeing to the Amendment to which this House hath disagreed: "-List of the Committee Reasons for disagreeing to one of the Lords Amendments reported, and agreed to:— THE POPE AND THE LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN-Question, Observations, Lord Oranmore and Browne; Reply, The Lord Chancellor RAILWAY BETWEEN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE PERSIAN GULF-Question, The ROYAL ASSENT was given to several Bills; And afterwards HER By virtue of Her Majesty's Commission, under the Great Seal, to us and other Lords directed, and now read, we do, in Her Majesty's Name, and in obedience to Her Com- mands, prorogue this Parliament to Friday the 29th day of October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Friday the Twenty- NEW MEMBER SWORN. MONDAY, AUGUST 2. Isaac Lowthian Bell, esquire, for the Borough of the Hartlepools, HANSARD'S SECOND SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FIRST PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, APPOINTED TO MEET 5 MARCH, 1874, AND THENCE CONTINUED HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA. FIFTH AND LAST VOLUME OF THE SESSION. HOUSE OF LORDS, - * * - - MINUTES.]-Sat First in Parliament - The PUBLIC BILLS First Reading Aliens and Naturalization (226); Alkali Works* (227); Chain Cables and Anchors (228); Issue of Writs during Recess (229); Meeting of Parliament (230); Parliamentary Proceed- ings (Oaths and Costs) (231); Public Second Reading-Statute Law Revision (194); Summary Prosecutions Appeals (Scotland) (191); Conspiracy and Protection of Pro- perty (220); Employers and Workmen (218). * ORD PENZANCE rose to call the the Colonies to the Act of the Colonial Legislature for the compulsory purchase by the Local Government of Prince Ed- ward's Island of all or any of the estates of the British proprietors in that island, and to ask what steps have been taken by Her Majesty's Government. to protect the just interests of those proprietors; and, whether the amount payable to them for the purchase of B tioned in the Act? The noble and learned Lord said that he considered this subject to be one of great importance. For some time past what might be termed a "land question" had existed in the island. The numbers of the owners of the soil were very small, and a strong democratic feeling prevailed in favour of the compulsory sequestration of the land by the tenants who held of them. This was not a new state of things in many countries; but in Prince Edward's Island it had had considerably sway, the Local Legislature being more or less completely elected by those whose influence was on the tenants' side. The consequence was that great efforts had been made to bring about this result. Last year a very similar Act to that to which he was now alluding passed the local Legislature but failed to receive the Royal Assent, the Governor General in Council stating in a despatch to the Lieutenant-Governor of the island, that he was advised the Act was objectionable, because it did not provide an impartial arbitration for the purchase of this property. The Act of 1874 was also objected to, because it was subversive of the rights of property, harassing and ruinous to the owners, and a dangerous precedent by the encouragement it held out to agitation. The Act of this year differed from the Act of 1874 in creating a more satisfactory tribunal for the adjustment of these cases. Three Commissioners were appointed-one by the Governor General of Canada, one by the local Government, and the third by the Island proprietors. In 1860 the proprietors, most of them resident in this country, were very willing to settle all disputes, and the matter was referred to Commissioners, who reported that the basis of compromise should be that the lands should be valued at 20 years' purchase, the purchase-money being regulated by the amount of rents stipulated to be paid. This compromise had never been carried out. An Act had now been passed which bore very harshly upon the proprietors. The Commissioners were to settle the amount to be paid, taking into consideration not how much rent had been reserved, but how much was paid, so that proprietors who had been lax in enforcing their rights would suffer accordingly. The Commissioners were also to consider what was the probability of recovering rents; so that if the law of the island were laxas in some respects he believed it wasthis fact again would tell against the proprietors. The Commissioners were also empowered to open up old questions whether the original conditions of grant had been observed by the proprietors. The Act purported to be one for changing leasehold into freehold tenures; but all that it really did seemed to be to give to the local Government power to acquire the land compulsorily from the proprietors, while it did not give the tenants any statutory right of purchase. Mr. Childers was going out as one of the three Commissioners and the representative of the Governor General, and he wished to ask the noble Earl the Secretary for the Colonies whether any instructions had been given to Mr. Childers to take a reasonable view of the rights of the proprietors under the Act, and whether Her Majesty's Government had been able to do anything which would lead to justice being done to the proprietors? Otherwise there was reason to believe that the true value of the land would be largely depreciated in the course of the inquiry by the Commissioners. He wished also to ask the noble Earl, whether the amount payable to the proprietors for the purchase of their rights was limited to the sum of $800,000, which he believed had been paid by the Canadian Government in consideration of the recent Federation? THE EARL OF CARNARVON: My Lords, I find some little difficulty in replying in any detail to the noble and learned Lord, and for this reason-that the Act which he has brought under the notice of your Lordships is not an Act which has been passed in the ordinary course of Colonial legislation. In the ordinary course of Colonial legislation an Act passed by the Colonial Legislature is sent home to this country, either for sanction or disallowance by the Crown; and, of course, the responsibility in such cases rests with the Minister who advises the Crown. This Act, however, stands on a different footing. It is passed by the Provincial Legislature of the Dominion of Canada; and under the Canadian Federation Act of 1867 it is provided that Acts so passed shall be allowed or disallowed, not by the Crown on the advice of the Minister in England, but by the Governor General. This Act has followed the usual course. |