In the Commons on Monday afternoon Mr. Balfour made a
statement as to the public business of the Session. He hoped to pass the Isle of Man Bill, the Oil and Tobacco Bill, the Naval Reserve Bill, the Larceny Bill, two Local Government Board Bills, the Irish Poor Relief Bill, the Diocesan Records Bill, two annual Bills, and some small departmental Bills. He hoped 'that the two Bills still before the Grand Committee— the Companies Bill and the Money-lending Bill—might shortly become law ; and he trusted to pass the third reading of the Agricultural Holdings Bill and the Irish Tithes Bill. The Government proposed to drop the Military Manceuvres, the Factories and Workshops, Lunacy, Youthful Offenders, Savings Banks, Dogs, Sea Fisheries, Palatine Court of Durham, and Reformatories and Industrial Schools Bills. The Education Bill he declared it necessary to postpone. We regret the postponement of the Factories Bill, and we sincerely trust that the Companies Bill will at last become law, for it is a measure on which there can be no divided opinion.
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