§ Resolution reported, "That it is expedient to amend the law relating to the number of the staff of the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland, and to authorise the payment, out of moneys to be provided by Parliament, of their salaries, and of the expenses of the Board, and the remuneration of the Chairman and Commissioners."
§ Resolution read a second time.
142§ Motion made and Question proposed, "That this House doth agree with the Committee in the said Resolution."
§ CAPTAIN SINCLAIR (Forfarshire)asked if the Lord Advocate would kindly explain the purposes of the resolution.
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAY,) ButeshireI have already done so, but I will explain again. The Bill is purely a Treasury Bill. According to the scale usually paid the present officials of the Lunacy Board are much underpaid, and the Bill simply allows the Treasury to fix the salaries of the secretary and the staff. There is also power to made a small payment for extra services rendered by the unpaid Commissioners.
§ MR. CALDWELL (Lanarkshire, Mid)said he differed from the Lord Advocate with regard to the object of the resolution. The great object of the resolution was to provide salaries for certain Commissioners who at the present moment were by Act of Parliament declared to be unpaid. There were in Scotland two Commissioners of Lunacy at 143 £1,200 a year, and two Deputy Commissioners at £600 a year each. England, with seven times the work, had only six paid Commissioners, and Ireland had only two. It was now proposed to pay the chairman of the Board in Scotland, although hitherto his duties had been discharged in the public interest without fee or reward. They were now asked to pay a salary to a man who only gave partial attention to the business, and to establish the principle that a man who discharged a public duty should be paid. That would apply to County Councillors and Members of Parliament. Hitherto the work had been done gratuitously, and now the Chairman of the Board, who was a nephew of the Secretary for Scotland, was to be paid. Why should he receive a salary when hitherto the work had been done gratuitously? That was the object of the resolution; the other objects mentioned by the Lord Advocate were merely makeshifts. He would oppose the Bill at every stage, and would denounce as an act of jobbery on
§ the part of the Secretary for Scotland the payment of a salary to his own nephew for work which had always been done gratuitously. He did not, however, intend to trouble the House with a division now.
§ MR. A. GRAHAM MURRAYThe hon. Gentleman is quite wrong. There is no power to give a salary in respect of the unpaid Commissioners.
§ MR. CALDWELLsaid it was called, not salary, but remuneration in the resolution.
§ MR. DALY (Monaghan, S.)said under the circumstances he felt it his duty to divide the House, because the Irish Members had not received fair treatment in their demand for the readjustment of the taxation of Ireland. He felt that the resolution should not be passed, and he hoped hon. Gentlemen from Ireland would oppose it.
§ Question put.
§ The House divided:—Ayes, 115; Noes, 38. (Division List No. 77.)
145| AYES. | ||
| Atkinson, Rt. Hon. John | Gretton, John | O'Neill, Hon. Robert Torrens |
| Bailey, James (Walworth) | Greville, Hon. Ronald | Penn, John |
| Balcarres, Lord | Gull, Sir Cameron | Phillpotts, Captain Arthur |
| Balfour, Rt. Hn. A. J. (Manch'r | Hamilton, Rt. Hon. Lord Geo. | Platt-Higgins, Frederick |
| Banbury, Frederick George | Hanbury, Rt. Hon. Robert Wm. | Plunkett, Rt Hn Horace Curzon |
| Barry, Rt Hn A H Smith- (Hunts | Hare, Thomas Leigh | Powell, Sir Francis Sharp |
| Beach, Rt. Hn. Sir M. H. (Bristol | Heath, James | Pretyman, Ernest George |
| Bond, Edward | Helder, Augustus | Purvis, Robert |
| Brassey, Albert | Hozier, Hon. James Henry Cecil | Quilter, Sir Cuthbert |
| Brodrick, Rt. Hon. St. John | Hudson, George Bickersteth | Rentoul, James Alexander |
| Bullard, Sir Harry | Jessel, Capt. Herbert Merton | Ritchie, Rt. Hn. Chas. Thomson |
| Cavendish, V. C. W. (Derbysh | Johnston, William (Belfast) | Robertson, Herbert (Hackney) |
| Cecil, Lord Hugh (Greenwich) | Johnstone, Heywood (Sussex) | Russell, Gen. F. S. (Cheltenham |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hn. J. (Birm. | Kenyon, James | Russell, T. W. (Tyrone) |
| Chamberlain, J. Austen (Worc'r | Kenyon-Slaney, Col. William | Rutherford, John |
| Chaplin, Rt. Hon. Henry | Knowles, Lees | Seely, Charles Hilton |
| Chelsea, Viscount | Lawson, John Grant (Yorks.) | Sidebothom, J. W. (Cheshire) |
| Collings, Rt. Hon. Jesse | Leigh-Bennett, Henry Currie | Smith, James Parker (Lanarks) |
| Curzon, Viscount | Lockwood, Lieut.-Col. A. R. | Stewart, Sir Mark J. M'Taggart |
| Dalrymple, Sir Charles | Loder, Gerald Walter Erskine | Sturt, Hon. Humphry Napier |
| Davies, Sir Horatio D. (Chath'm | Long, Rt. Hon. W. (Liverpool) | Talbot, Rt. Hn. J. G. (Oxf'd Univ |
| Denny, Colonel | Lowe, Francis William | Thornton, Percy M. |
| Douglas, Rt. Hon. A. Akers- | Lowles, John | Tomlinson, W. E. Murray |
| Dyke, Rt. Hn. Sir William Hart | Loyd, Archie Kirkman | Vincent, Sir Edgar (Exeter) |
| Faber, George Denison | Lyttelton, Hon. Alfred | Ward, Hon. Robert A. (Crewe) |
| Fellowes, Hon. Ailwyn Edwd. | Macdona, John Cumming | Warr, Augustus Frederick |
| Finch, George H. | MacIver, David (Liverpool) | Webster, Sir Richard E. |
| Finlay, Sir Robert Bannatyne | M'Calmont, Col. J. (Antrim, E.) | Wharton, Rt. Hon. John Lloyd |
| Firbank, Joseph Thomas | M'Iver, Sir L. (Edinburgh, W) | Williams, Colonel R. (Dorset) |
| Forster, Henry William | Malcolm, Ian | Willox, Sir John Archibald |
| Foster, Colonel (Lancaster) | Maple, Sir John Blundell | Wilson, J. W. (Wor'shire, N.) |
| Fry, Lewis | Martin, Richard Biddulph | Wortley, Rt. Hon. C. B. Stuart- |
| Galloway, William Johnson | Melville, Beresford Valentine | Wylie, Alexander |
| Gedge, Sydney | Middlemore, J. Throgmorton | Wyndham, George |
| Goldsworthy, Major-General | More, Robt. Jasper (Shropsh.) | Wyvill, Marmaduke D'Arcy |
| Gordon, Hon. John Edward | Morrell, George Herbert | |
| Gorst, Rt. Hn. Sir J. Eldon | Mowbray, Sir Robert Gray C. | TELLERS FOR THE AYES— |
| Goulding, Edward Alfred | Murray, Rt. Hn. A. G. (Bute) | Mr. Anstruther and Mr. |
| Gray, Ernest (West Ham) | Newdigate, Francis Alexander | Fisher. |
| Green, W. D. (Wednesbury) | Nicol, Donald Ninian | |
| NOES. | ||
| Burns, John | Hammond, John (Carlow) | O'Dowd, John |
| Channing, Francis Allston | Hayne, Rt. Hon. Charles Seale- | O'Keeffe, Francis Arthur |
| Corbett, A. Cameron (Glasgow | Healy, Maurice (Cork) | Power, Patrick Joseph |
| Crean, Eugene | Healy, Timothy M. (N. Louth) | Provand, Andrew Dryburgh |
| Crilly, Daniel | Hedderwick, Thomas C. H. | Redmond, William (Clare) |
| Davies, M. Vaughan- (Cardigan | Jones, Wm. (Carnarvonshire) | Samuel, J. (Stockton-on-Tees) |
| Dilke, Rt. Hon. Sir Charles | Kilbride, Denis | Sinclair, Capt. J. (Forfarshire) |
| Donelan, Captain A. | Lawson, Sir Wilfrid (Cumb'l nd | Sullivan, Donal (Westmeath) |
| Doogan, P. C. | Lough, Thomas | Tanner, Charles Kearns |
| Duckworth, James | Macaleese, Daniel | Ure, Alexander |
| Farrell, Jas. P. (Cavan, W.) | MacNeill, John Gordon Swift | |
| Flavin, Michael Joseph | M'Ghee, Richard | TELLERS FOR THE NOES— |
| Flynn, James Christopher | M'Killop, James | Mr. Daly and Mr. Caldwell. |
| Goddard, Daniel Ford | Murnaghan, George |
§ Bill ordered to be brought in by the Lord Advocate and Mr. Anstruther.