SECOND READING. (Hansard, 24 April 1884)

§ MR. LEAMY

said, he rose to move, as an Amendment, that the Bill be taken on Monday. Irish Members did not think it would be taken on so short a Notice. This was a Bill in which many of his hon. Friends were interested, a large number of whom were absent from the House, and certainly had no idea that it would be taken at a Morning Sitting without adequate Notice being given. Many Irish Members were at that moment in Ireland; and he thought it only fair that the Bill should be postponed until Monday on that account, the Notice being too short in the case of Gentlemen who, when they went away, were perfectly easy in their minds as to the Bill not coming forward in their absence. He believed that if the Bill were one which affected England or Scotland it would not be treated in this 590 way. However that might be, the only result of putting the Bill down for tomorrow would be that its discussion would occupy so much time that no progress would be made with it. If the Government desired to act fairly towards Irish Members interested in the measure they would have no hesitation in assenting to his proposal, or take the Bill next Tuesday, when he supposed there would be a Morning Sitting also. Amongst those Irish Members interested in the Bill -and absent from the House were the two Members for Dublin, supporters of the Government, the two Members for the City of Cork, and the senior Member for Waterford, not one of whom, as he had said, had any reason to expect that it would be taken at a moment's Notice. It was, of course, reasonable that the right hon. Gentleman in charge of the Bill should take every opportunity that presented itself of advancing it; but, believing that the course now proposed by the Government was unfair, he begged to move that the Bill be taken on Monday.