which were of some importance. If the suggestion that the Bill should be amended in such a way that the coroner should always be compelled to view the body were acted upon a great part of his objection would disappear, and had the Bill been introduced in that fashion he would perhaps not have been prepared to oppose it. *MR. C. DUNCAN (Barrow-in-Furness) said he had himself had some experience thing would become very easy. It was not a case that would often occur, but that it might occur everybody knew from what had taken place in a recent case. He did not suggest that the jury would not be above suspicion. It was for that reason that he desired that they should continue to view the body. He wished to prevent a corrupt witness coming forward and saying he had drawn the dead man out of the water, for instance, and others saying they had seen the body. That might have on inquests, and although the House been one of the reasons why the view- had been told that the viewing of the ing of the body was imposed upon the body induced jurymen to take a serious jury and why it was retained upon view of the inquest, SO far as the Statute-book when the Coroners' his experience went there never Acts were consolidated in 1877. The was any flippancy displayed by the Under-Secretary of State had given people empannelled upon the juries, a stronger reason still against the present or any suggestion that they were not Bill being passed. He had said there likely to take as serious а view of were many points in Coroners' Acts their functions as any Member of the that needed amendment that the House. He thought the Bill was an whole question needed a Committee of extremely modest one and had a very inquiry in order to see in what reasonable object. Some of the duties way they could be best which fell upon those who sat upon juries were of an extremely loathsome character. The case quoted by the hon. Baronet where at the first meeting of the jury one juror was taken so ill that the body could not be viewed for some weeks was one of the strongest arguments in favour of the Bill. Accidents also happened. Supposing an accident happened in a mine and a large number of men were killed. In such places the community was a very small one, and it seemed to be a pitiful thing to compel a jury sitting on an inquest of such a kind to look at the bodies, very often of their friends, torn, burnt, and riven in all directions. Then let them take the case of a man who had been drowned. He knew of such amended. He could not, therefore, see the object of passing this measure, which would only deal with a fraction of the question, when very shortly, as the UnderSecretary of State had said, the whole question would have to come up for review. Of course, if the Bill was to be referred to a Committee of the Whole House, no possible harm could result from its being read a second time. If, on the other hand, it was to be referred to a Committee upstairs, then he thought it would be a great waste of time to send to a Committee a Bill which in the opinion of the Government was not very desirable, especially when the Committees had plenty of work to do in examining and discussing other matters a case where the body had been in the the House that hon. Members below water three months. Could anything be the gangway would be unable to reply more loathsome than to compel a jury by to his argument: there might be some law to view a body of that kind which truth in that, for he did not think anyone had been bloated and swollen to three would be able to reply to him until votes times its natural size? Hon. Members were granted to women and women sat who had opposed the Bill had had no on the floor of the House. experience of these things, and therefore should be the last to oppose such a measure. If they had had his experience they would have been strongly in favour of the Bill. The hon. Baronet had told 45. Question put. The House divided :-Ayes, 118; Noes, (Division List No. 72.) O'Dowd, John O'Kelly, Conor (Mayo, N.) Pearce, Robert (Staffs, Leek) Rutherford, V. H. (Brentford) Lloyd-George, Rt. Hon. David Samuel, Herbert L. (Cleveland Lyell, Charles Henry Macdonald, J. R. (Leicester) Meehan, Francis E. (Leitrim, N. Mooney, J. J. Morrell, Philip Morton, Alpheus Cleophas Murphy, John (Kerry, East) Nicholson, Charles N. (Doncast'r Norton, Capt. Cecil William O'Donnell, John (Mayo, S.) NOES. Beckett, Hon. Gervase Seaverns, J. H. Shaw, Rt. Hon. T. (Hawick B.) Tennant,Sir Edward (Salisbury Wason, Rt.Hn. E (Clackmannan White, Sir George (Norfolk) Wilson, P. W. (St. Pancras, S.) TELLERS FOR THE AYES-Mr. Bowles, G. Stewart Cecil, Evelyn (Aston Manor) Collins, Sir Wm.J. (S. Pancras,W Hamilton, Marquess of Haslam, Lewis (Monmouth) Lamont, Norman | | Long, Rt. Hn. Walter (Dublin,S. | O'Neill, Hon. Robert Torrens Sassoon, Sir Edward Albert Talbot, Lord E. (Chichester) Williams, Col. R. (Dorset, W.) TELLERS FOR THE NOES- BALLOT ACT (1872) AMENDMENT (No. 2) House was that the principle might be BILL. Order for Second Reading read. MR. DUNN (Cornwall, Camborne) formally moved the Second Reading. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time." satisfactory, whereas, in the case of some cases hardship would occur, and he was glad to have the opportunity of quoting the figures in a city which was the opposite case to that of Croydon. In West Belfast, where at the last general one which would have proved a very close contest but for a certain occurrence, they had 4,138 Nationalist voters, the Unionist candidate polled 4,122, and they had a nominee of the present Government polling 153. CAPTAIN CRAIG said that the Motion had taken hon. Members entirely by surprise, and he considered that it was not very courteous to the House of Commons at ten minutes past four o'clock on a Friday afternoon to intro-election they had a very close contest, or duce so important a Bill in such a summary fashion. A Bill of this kind ought to be introduced by the Government or with Government sanction. He felt very strongly on the point and there were a large number of hon. Members who took a considerable interest in the Bill, in regard to which very divergent opinions were held. Did the promoters of the Bill think they would get the measure through the House any sooner by such discourteous treatment? It was not as if it were late at night and it was necessary to resort to such tactics. To the best of his ability he should show the House what they would be doing if they allowed the Bill to go MR. STANLEY WILSON (Yorkshire, E.R., Holderness) called attention to the fact that forty Members were not present. House counted, and forty Members not being present The House adjourned at twentyfive minutes after Four of the An Asterisk (*) at the commencement of a Speech indicates revision by the Member. KINGSTOWN HARBOUR. The LORD CHANCELLOR acquainted the Correspondence relating to the use House, That the Clerk of the Parliaments of Kingstown Harbour by the vessels had laid upon the Table the Certificates of the London and North-Western Railfrom the Examiners that the further way Company. Standing Orders applicable to the following Bills have been complied with:Finchley Urban District Council; Bury and District Joint Water Board; Dublin and South-Eastern Railway; Seaham Harbour Dock; City of Glasgow. The same was ordered to lie on the Table. Alliance and other Assurance and Insurance Companies Bill [H.L.]; Wathupon-Dearne Urban District Council Gas Bill [H.L.]. (Petition for additional Provision.) Examiners' Certificates of noncompliance with the Standing Orders referred to the Standing Orders Committee on Thursday next. Bognor Gas Light and Coke Company Bill [H.L.].-Reported, with Amend ments. Swansea Valley Gas Bill [H.L.].Reported from the Select Committee, with Amendments. Cardiff Railway Bill [H.L.].-Read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons. Hull and Barnsley Railway Bill; Dartford Gas Bill.-Brought from the Commons, read 1a, and referred to the Examiners. Herne Bay Pier Bill [H.L.].-Returned from the Commons agreed to. VOL. CLXXXVII. [FOURTH SERIES.] IRISH MAIL SERVICE. Correspondence relating to the arrangement made in 1898 for the acceleration of the Irish Day Mail Service, and the revision of the same in the present year. TRADE REPORTS: ANNUAL SERIES. No. 3968. Belgium (Antwerp). INDIA (USE OF GOVERNMENT Papers relating to the use for Presbyterian services of garrison churches for the services of the Church of England. in India which have been consecrated ARMY. under the Military Works Acts of 1897, Approximate estimate of expenditure 1899, 1901, and 1903. IRISH LAND COMMISSION (RULES). Rules dated 26th March, 1908, supplemental to and amending the Rules dated 16th March, 1897, 19th March, 1900, 17th May, 1901, 14th March, 1902, and (provisional rules), 4th December, 1903. Presented (by command), and ordered to lie on the Table. CRIMINAL APPEAL (RULES, 1908). Additional rule made, with the approval of the Lord Chancellor, by the 21 Lord Chief Justice and the Judges of duty, owing to the prolongation of his the Court of Criminal Appeal. THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (The Marquess of RIPON) My Lords, it is my sad task to inform your Lordships that grave illness, to resign his office, and that the King, under the circumstances, has been graciously pleased to accept his resignation. I am sure that all your Lordships will share my deep regret that the career of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister should be thus suddently brought to a close. This is not the occasion to recount his services to the country or his claim to public gratitude. His short career as head of the Government has been remarkable for the singular influence which he obtained over the House of Commons. Other eminent statesmen have exercised great influence in that Assembly, none more so in recent years than Mr. Gladstone. But Mr. Gladstone's power was based upon his commanding eloquence and his vast experience of public affairs, and was mingled, if I mistake not, with a certain feeling of awe; whereas the influence of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was, if I may say so, of a tenderer kind. His perfect temper, his earnest sympathy with the feelings and principles of his Party, his unfailing courtesy to his opponents gave him an unrivalled hold on the most critical Assembly in the world. By these qualities and by their results he will be best remembered by the public. But we who have been his colleagues for two years and a half are bound to him by yet closer ties; for his constant fairness, his untiring patience, and his considerate guidance have won for him the gratitude and affection of all those whom he associated with himself in the immense responsibilities attaching to the Government of this great Empire. I ought to say that, after the Army (Annual) Bill has been read a third time and passed, I propose to move that this House do adjourn until Tuesday, the 14th of this month. It is proposed to meet then in order that the Royal Assent may be given to the Army (Annual) Bill. That, I think, is in accordance with precedent. The Government is no longer constitutionally in existence. The retirement of the Prime Minister puts an end in that sense to the Government of the time; and I do not think that any persons holding their office on so slight a tenure ought to take on themselves the conduct of any important business in |