The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-03 00:00:00

BILL.

Lord COLVILLE of CULROSS presented petitions
against the Sunday Trading Bill.
Lord CHELMSFORD presented petitions from Bays-
water and other places in the metropolis in favour of this
bill.

Lord SONDES presented petitions from Bishopsgate,
Holborn, and other places, complaining of the great extent
of Sunday trading, and praying for a law to limit trading
on that day to articles of necessity.
Lord TEYNHAM presented petitions against the bill.
Lord CHELMSFORD then rose to move that the house
go into committee on this bill. The noble and learned lord
said that when ho moved the second reading of the bill be-
fore Easter it was arranged that the principles of the bill
should be fully discussed upon going into committee. He
therefore entertained a favourable consideration of the bill,
as he felt convinced the more it was understood tjae less ob-
jection there would be to it, and he thought he ought to tell
them what the bill was before they proceeded to discuss
it. It was not a bill to compel persons to ob-
serve the Lord's day religiously, but it was one to remove
all the obstacles to a proper observance of the Sabbath. The
attempt to make men religious by legislation was impos-
sible, and the bill ho proposed did not introduce any prohi-
bition or restriction that the law did not impose; but the
law being inefficient, it was sought to strengthen the arm
of the law, and to make that which was now weak, strong
and efficient. The subject of Sunday trading had been
under the consideration of Parliament for many years,
and committees had sat, the result being three
large blue books, but when such was the case for all good
purposes the reconnaiendation became a dead letter, for
very few persons cared about perusing one of these volumes.
(Hear, and laughter.) The extent to which Sunday trad-
ing was carried on was beyond belief. It was not confined
to articles of necessity, but of things that could well be ob-
tained during the week. The scenes in some parts of the
metropolis, when the blue books were printed, were stated
to be disgraceful; on Sundays crowds of persons congre
gate; mountebanks exposed their nostrums, thieves and
prostitutes abounded, and a scene was presented
which was beyond description. (Hear.) He did not think
the scenes at the present time had much altered. The
Bishop of London, in lately presenting a petition from the
Lord's-day Rest Association, stated that about one-half of
the shopkeepers of London kept their houses open on
Sunday, and to check this state of thing; the law was
altogether pow erless, as the fine imposed by the statute
was only 58. He was perfectly aware that the subject he
had taken in hand was one surrounded by difficulties, but
he trusted that he should be able to convince their lord-
ships that the bill at present before them would do great
good if it received the sanction of Parliament. He
had had the honour of presenting a petition
from an immense number of tradesmen, who were
desirous of legislation on the subject, as they were anxious
of being enabled to pay proper respect to the day, but owing
to the state of certain parts of the metropolis on Sunday
they were entirely prevented from doing so. In the
enterprise, as he called it, he found himself asailed by con-
flicting parties. Some parties complained that any relaxation
of the law was an approval by Parliament of Sunday trad-
ing, but such was not the case, and if these perused the bill
they would find that it contemplated all that they required.
One of the great obstacles to abolishing Sunday trading
was the practice of paying wages late on Saturday
night; but from reports that were now being made
in different places by some of the Government departments,
several large establishments were paying their workmen on
Fridays, and he hoped very shortly such an arrangement
would become general. It had been said why
should a strong compulsory law be passed
enforce the general closing of shops on Sundays.
The reason why such a measure was necessary was that if
certain tradesmen opened their shops on that day and others
kept theirs closed, the effect would be that the man who
kept his shop open would soon monopolise the whole of the
trade of the district. The bill was not ono directed entirely
against the poor; it affected the sale of certain articles to
the poor and the delivery of other things to the rich, so
both were dealt with equally. The great difficulties in all
bills of the kind they now had under consideration were
the exemptions, and he should feel great pleasure in receiv-
ing the assistance of any noble lord who felt disposed to
help him in his labours, and he felt that if the bill passed
he should do a great good; he would redeem thousands of
tradesmen from loss, and thus benefit their families and
workmen, and if it received the assent of Parliament it
would make the Sunday a day of cheerful rest, of religious
exercise, and one of real enjoyment. (Hear, hear.)
Lord ST. GERMANS said ho had paid particular atten-
tion to the subject of Sunday trading, and he could not
give his assent to a bill which would bring about a worse
state of things than at present existed. He could not sup-
port a bill which made that illegal in London which was
legal in Manchester and other places.
(LEFT SPEARING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-(THIS EVENING.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
NEW MEMBER.

Mr. BENYON took the oaths and his seat for Berkshire.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The following bills wero read a third tirae :—Brompton,
Chatham, Gillingham, &c., Water ; Denbigh, Ruthin, and
Corwen Railway ; Edinburgh Railway Station Access ;
London and South Western and Bristol and Exeter Rail-
way Companies; Salisbury and Yeovil Railway; Stockport,
Disley, and Whaley Bridge Railway; Wimborne Min-
ster and Blandford Forum Road, and Colin River Water.
The Kilkenny Junction Railway Bill and Swansea Har-
bour Trust Bill wore read a second time.

PETITIONS.
Several petitions were presented against increased na-
tional expenditure ; for and against the provisions of the
Poor-law Medical Relief Bill ; against the Highways
Bill ; against the duty on fire insurances ; against the Wine
Licences Bill ; from Scotland in favour of the bill to amend
the representation of the people.

THE REFORM BILL AND THE BALLOT.
Mr. BRIGHT presented a petition from a public meet-
ing, composed of members of the North London Political
Union, and other inhabitants of London, in favour of
granting the franchise to the working classes, and deprs-
cating the use of such language addressed to those classes
as " clowns," "boors," and other terms applied to them dur-
ing the debate on the Reform Bill, as being calculated to ex-
cite bad feelings on their part. The hon. memberwas about to
offer some comments, but was called order by the Speaker,
who stated that he was out of order. The hon. member then
presented a petition from ministers of different congregations
in favour of the ballot, and drawing attention to its beneficial
operation in Australia.