SECOND READING. (Hansard, 18 July 1881)

§ MR. MONK
, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that it was simply a Bill enabling the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty to extend the time for the repayment of loans advanced to incumbents of benefices for one, two, or three years, in consequence of the agricultural depression throughout the country, which had affected the clergy as well as other classes of the community. The Bill had been passed through the House of Lords, and he hoped the second reading would be agreed to.

§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR
did not think it was right at that time of night to allow the Bill to be read a second time. As he 1232 understood from the hon. Member opposite, this Bill allowed the interference of the Government—

§ MR. MONK
No; it is simply to allow the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty to postpone the period of repayment of sums lent by them to poor clergy.

§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR
said, he did not know what the character of Queen Anne's Bounty was; but he took it that it was, to some extent, a representative body. The principle which the hon. Gentleman wished to fix in this Bill was that a certain body, more or less a State body, should interfere between—or, at least, that the State should forego—well, at least, to give a respite for the payment of debts due to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty. If that was a private body, the object of the Bill was to interfere between a private body and its debtors. That was a principle, he was glad to find, which had received acceptance in "another place," because it was not a principle which usually commended itself to Legislators; but, all the same, he thought that 3 o'clock in the morning was rather too late to ask for the sanction to a proposal of such importance. The hon. Member had alluded to agricultural depression, and he hoped that House would always show the same keen appreciation of distress, because, whenever an Irish Member tried to bring before the House the distress suffered by a poorer body than the English clergy, the cheers were swelled by the hon. Member for Gloucester when the House refused to allow the State to interfere. As a protest, he begged to move the adjournment of the debate.

§ MR. ILLINGWORTH
said, he hoped the hon. Member would not obstruct this Bill. A Bill of a similar character was before the House—namely, the Seeds Bill, the object of which was to give some extension of time to Irish tenants who were unable to meet their debts to the State. The Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty were emphatically a public body responsible to the State, and the object of the Bill was only a postponement of the repayment of sums lent to men who had been severely handled during the distress.

§ MR. WARTON
hoped the Motion would not be pressed.

§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR
said, his object having been sufficiently accomplished, he would withdraw his Motion.