An Asterisk (*) at the commencement of a Speech indicates revision by the Member.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Tuesday, 19th April, 1904.

SAT FIRST.

The Lord Abinger sat first in Parliament after the death of his kinsman.

PRIVATE BILL BUSINESS.

House as a member of the Select Committee on the said Bills in the place of the Lord Estcourt; read, and agreed to.

Bridlington Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Vale Urban District Water Bill [H.L.]; Bristol Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Ebbw Harrogate Waterworks Tramrod Bill [H.L.]; Leeds Corporation (Waterworks) Railway Bill [H.L.]; Llanelly Harbour Bill [H.L.]; Belfast Corporation (Tramways) Bill [H.L]; Holywood Tramways Bill (H.L.]; Metropolitan District Rail

Kettering Improvement Bill. Read 2, and committed.

Barrow-in-Furness Corporation Bill [H.L.]; Southport and Lytham Tramroad (Extension of Time) Bill [H.L.]. Read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.

Metropolitan Police Provisional Order Bill. Brought from the Commons.

Birkdale Improvement Bill; Brixham Gas Bill; Soothill Nether Urban District Tramways Bill; Southend-on-Sea Gas Bill; St. Marylebone Electric Lighting Bill; Acton Improvement Bill; Charing

mittee of Selection, That the Lord Barrymore be proposed to the House as a member of the Select Committee on the said Bills in the place of the Lord Boston; read, and agreed to.

Education Board Provisional Order Confirmation (London) Bill [H.L.]. A Bill to confirm a Provisional Order made by the Board of Education under the Education Acts, 1870 to 1903, to enable the School Board for London to put in force the Lands Clauses Acts-Was presented M. Londonderry]); read 1; to be by the Lord President (The Earl Vane printed; and referred to the Examiners. (No. 43.)

London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Bill [H.L.]; Young and Bell's Patents Bill [H.L.]. Returned from the Commons agreed to.

Wild Birds Protection Acts Amendment Bill. Returned from the Commons with the Amendments agreed to.

PETITIONS.

(IRELAND). Return for the year ended 31st December, 1903. (April 13.)

INDIA (LAND REVENUE). Statement showing the number of processes issued against land revenue defaulters during the year 1901-1902. (April 13.)

BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES, AND VACCINATION (SCOTLAND). Forty-ninth Annual Report of the Registrar-General in Scotland for the year 1903, and Thirty ninth Annual Report on Vaccination. (April 13.)

POOR LAW MEDICAL RELIEF. (SCOTLAND).

Report of Departmental Committee appointed by the Local Government Board for Scotland; Volume II. containing minutes of evidence, appendices, and index. (April 15.)

CONGESTED DISTRICTS (SCOTLAND) АСТ, 1897.

Sixth Report of the Congested Districts (Scotland) Board to the Secretary for Scotland. (April 15.)

the 2nd February, 1904.

(Explosion at the Factory of Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, Limited, at Cliffe, Kent). Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Captain A. P. H. Desborough, His Majesty's Inspector of Explosives, on the circumstances attending an accident which occurred in the drying house for nitrocotton at the Factory of Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, Limited, at Cliffe, Kent, on the 4th February, 1904.

EMIGRATION STATISTICS (IRELAND). Report and Tables for the year 1903.

BRITISH COTTON CULTIVATION. Report to the Board of Trade on and in Egypt, by Professor Wyndham cotton cultivation in the British Empire Dunstan, F.R.S., Director of the Imperial Institute at South Kensington.

LIGHT RAILWAYS ACT, 1896. Orders, made by the Light Railway Commissioners, and modified and confirmed by the Board of Trade:—

I. Authorising the construction of light

TRADE REPORTS (ANNUAL SERIES). No. 3136. Netherlands (Amsterdam). No. 3137. Germany (Pomerania).

CHARITY COMMISSIONERS (ENGLAND AND WALES).

Fifty-first Report.

INDIA (OFFICIAL SECRETS). India Official Secrets (Amendment) Act, 1904.

EXPLOSIVES.

(Explosion at the Factory of Messrs. Curtis and Harvey, Limited, Faversham, Kent). Report to the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Captain M. B. Lloyd, His Majesty's Inspector of Explosives, on the circumstances attending an explosion of gunpowder which occurred in the mixing house of the factory of Messrs. Curtis and Harvey,

(1.) In the parishes of Arkley, Barnet Vale, Chipping Barnet, Bushey Rural, Bushey Urban, and Watford Urban, in the county of Hertford.

(2.) In the urban and rural districts of Rugby, in the county of Warwick.

(3.) From St. Osyth to Clactonon-Sea, in the county of Essex, in the rural district of Tendring, and the urban district of Clacton.

(4.) In the Borough of Leicester and in the rural districts of Barrowupon-Soar, and of Market Bosworth, in the county of Leicester.

II. Transferring to the mayor, aldermen, and citizens of the city of Bradford the powers conferred upon the Nidd Valley Light Railway Company by the Nidd Valley Light Railway Order, 1901, and amending that Order.

physical exercises.

to lie on the Table.

INDIA (LOANS RAISED IN ENGLAND).

Return of all loans raised in England, under the provisions of any Act of Parliament chargeable on the revenues of India, outstanding at the commencement of the half-year ended on the 31st March, 1904, with the rates of interest and total amount payable thereon, etc.

TRINIDAD.

Amended prison rule relating to indentured immigrants sentenced to hard labour.

DISEASES OF ANIMALS ACTS, 1894 TO 1903.

Hull (Channel Islands Animals) Landing Place Order of 1904.

BOARD OF EDUCATION (WELSH INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION ACT, 1889).

Report to the Board of Education on the administration of schools under the

Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889.

GOVERNMENT INSURANCES AND

ANNUITIES.

Account of all moneys received on account of contracts for the grant of deferred life annuities, and for payments on death, under the provisions of the Acts 27 and 28 Victoria, chap. 43, 45 and 46 Victoria, chap. 51, and 50 and 51 Victoria, chap. 40, and of the disposal thereof, and of the contracts made for the year ended 31st December, 1903.

POLLING DISTRICTS.

Orders made by the county councils of Hertford, altering certain polling districts in the Western or Watford Parliamentary Division; and Lancaster, altering certain polling districts in the Clitheroe and Westhoughton Parliamentary Divisions.

FERTILISERS AND FEEDING STUFFS АСТ, 1893.

Amended regulations made by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland.

SEA AND COAST FISHERIES FUND
(IRELAND).

Order transferring to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland the powers and duties of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland in respect of the portion of the fund placed at the disposal of the Department by the Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899.

LOCAL BANKRUPTCY (IRELAND) ACT,

1888.

Order in Council, dated 24th March, 1904, adding the county of Armagh to the district assigned to the Belfast Local Bankruptcy Court.

LIGHT RAILWAYS ACT, 1896.

of Trade up to the 31st December, 1903, Report of the proceedings of the Board and of the proceedings of the Light Railway Commissioners up to the same date.

EGYPTIAN GUARANTEED LOAN OF 1885.
Account up to 31st March, 1904.

GREEK LOAN OF 1898.
Accounts up to 31st March, 1904.

SUPERANNUATION.

Treasury minute, dated 13th April, 1904, declaring that David Gray, leading hand of fitters, Royal Gun Factory, War Office, was appointed without a Civil Service certificate through inadvertence on the part of the head of his Department.

Laid before the House (pursuant to Act), and ordered to lie on the Table.

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE.

Moved, That Standing Order No. XXI. be considered in order to its being suspended for this day's sitting (The Earl of Hardwicke); agreed to, and ordered accordingly. Then it was moved that the Motion on East Indian Revenues (Tibet) do have precedence of the Order of the Day which stands before it (The Earl of Hardwicke); agreed to, and ordered accordingly.

ANGLO-FRENCH AGREEMENT.

EARL SPENCER: My Lords, I have given private notice to the noble Marquess the Leader of the House of a Question which I wish to put to him before the ordinary business begins. As a rule, by the custom of this country, the duty of the Opposition is to criticise generally the acts of the Government. It is not often that an Opposition can give unstinted congratulation on any action it may take. I rejoice to think there are exceptions to this rule, and the present is an occasion when we may offer this congratulation, because I believe your Lordships will all rejoice to accept as a great achievement what the noble Marquess has lately done in certain very important negotiations. In my speech on the opening night of the session I was able to congratulate His Majesty's Government on the passing of a Convention as to arbitration between this country and France, and, speaking on that occasion, the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs used these words

"I do not think you will find either here or in France that too much credit is taken to themselves by the diplomatists of either country for this happy condition of things. It is due, no doubt, partly to those courtesies which have recently been exchanged, and to which reference has been made; but I believe it to be due mainly to a deep-seated conviction on the part of the peoples of the two countries that there is no real divergence between our interests, that the greatest of our common interests is peace, and that there is no greater security for the peace of Europe than that it should be desired both by France and Great Britain."

We heartily concurred in those sentiments, and are glad that the noble Marquess has followed that up by further action in the interests of friendship between the two neighbouring countries.

It is a matter of the utmost importance to us to have friendly relations with France. It is the best pledge of peace for this country. One of the noblest aims of any statesman is to put peace. on a profound and good security. We all know and appreciate the beneficent and admirable influence which the action of His Majesty the King has had with His visit to Paris regard to this matter. and the return visit to London of the President of the Republic had most excellent results. The noble Marquess has carried these results further, and has secured, by his negotiations, a Convention. of the greatest possible importance. We thank him on this side of the House, and if I may be allowed to speak not only for those I represent on this Bench, but for the whole House, all your Lordships thank him for what he has done in the interests of peace and conciliation. I cannot help hoping that the same success which has marked his negotiations with France may in the future attend further negotiations with other countries with which we have differences. He has removed many differences which have been causes of trouble, irritation, and even of danger between the two countries in Asia, America, and in Africa. I beg to ask whether he proposes to present any further Papers on the recent negotiations, and whether any Resolution or Bill relating to the Convention will be brought before Parliament.

*THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE): My Lords, before I attempt to answer the Question of which the noble Earl has given me private notice, I must be allowed to offer him the thanks of His Majesty's Government, and I hope I may add those who support His Majesty's Government, for the manner in which he has referred to the Agreements we have recently concluded with the French Republic. I am using no idle phrase when I say that there is no one in or out of this House whose commendation we would on an occasion like this sooner receive than that of the noble Earl opposite. In the conduct of foreign affairs the Government of the day always has this advantage, at any rate, that they maylook forward to the transaction of their business with a certainty that they are not