The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-13 00:00:00

course.

The Union Chargeability Bill has been one of the
vexed questions of the present session, and it is so
far satisfactory that it has passed the second reading
in the House of Lords. .Even there, however, it
had to encounter opposition, although of not near
so formidable a character as that it met with in the
Commons. Lord GRANVILLE, in moving the
second reading, aptly put forward the chief points of
the case, and met some of the many objections to
the measure. The noble lord said that the course
of legislation had been tending in this direction for
a long time, and the principle of the bill, which
tended to equalise the rating and to shorten the
term that gives a legal settlement, had been adopted
in theory ever since the passing of the new Poor
Law Act. Lord GRANVILLE very properly stated
that when people spoke of the necessity of making
inquiries, they seemed to forget that for more than
thirty years they had been inquiring into the matter.
As for the proposal to send the bill to a Select Com-
mittee, there is no doubt that the noble lord very
successfully disposed of that motion by stating that
Select Committees were generally resorted to when
they had an intricate bill before them. This mea-
sure, on the contrary, contains very few clauses, and
is by no means intricate in detail. Some interest
was imparted to the proceedings of this dull debate
by Lord BROUGHAM seconding the motion. The
noble and learned lord said that he felt concerned
in the fate of this measure, because the Government
to which he belonged, in 1833 and 1834, were
" unanimously in favour of such a measure." They
were then unable to effect their object, but Lord
BROUGHAM, when proposing a bill in 1834, ex-
pressed a hope that " before thirty years had passed
away the principle upon which the present measure
was founded would be assented to by Parliament."
It must have been a great satisfaction to the noble
and learned lord, after the lapse of a generation, to
find his prophecies realised and his wishes fulfilled
in this respect. Few are so fortunate or favoured
as to survive to witness such a consummation.
The Duke of RUTLAND conducted his opposition in
a more moderate manner than that which charac-
terised the opponents in the Commons. There
was nothing new in the arguments which the Duke
of RUTLAND employed; they were but a recapi-
tulation of old grievances, as to causing dissen-
sions between employer and employed, and creat-
ing distinctions between town and country that
would be mischievous. A majority of sixty-two
decided against the motion that the bill be referred
to a Select Committee. We may conclude, there-
fore, that the measure has escaped the shoals and
quicksands which have so impeded its progress,
and threatened its safety. It is quite a mistake
to suppose that a bill of this sort can finally dis-
pose of difficult and long-standing points of dis-
cussion. It is a step hr the right direction, but no
more; and hereafter all legislators will have ample
opportunities afforded them of rectifying any evils
that experience may find to exist in the working
of the Poor Law in its several departments. At
a future time the question of the inequalities of
rating may be very properly dealt with, and
there can be no doubt that Parliament will not
refuse to consider the subject with the attention
and discretion that it may demand and deserve.