§ MR. ROEBUCKbegged to ask the noble Lord a question. There were now before the House four Bills touching Ireland. One might be considered as already disposed of, namely, that which was to provide for the immediate relief of the poor in Ireland. It had gone through Committee, and might be considered as having passed that House. Then there was a Bill to render valid certain acts of the Government in Ireland; and there were, besides, the Poor Law Bill, and the Bill which had been laid the previous day on the Table of the House, authorizing the lending of money to the owners of land in Ireland for the improvement of their properties. He had not given notice of his question, but he had no doubt the noble Lord would be disposed to answer it immediately, or, if not, to-morrow. What he wished to know was, whether the noble Lord could inform the House of the order in which the last two Bills would be considered, namely, the Poor Law Bill, and the Bill for lending money to Irish proprietors; whether the noble Lord was prepared to insure the passing of the Poor Law Bill by making it go through its stages pari passu with the Bill for sanctioning loans to landlords in Ireland; or whether he intended to proceed with the one separately from the other?
LORD J. RUSSELLhad to state in answer, that it was his intention that those two Bills should proceed together. He did not say, as to a particular day, that the one might not stand for Committee before the other; but he should wish them to be read a third time so that they might be sent to the other House of Parliament as nearly as possible at the same time. He had further to inform the hon. and learned Gentleman, that he himself considered that 1156 the Bill for granting loans of money to be applied in improving estates, ought not to pass without the Poor Law Bill. On the other hand, he considered that the Poor Law Bill alone, without some such measure as that for lending money to improve estates, might probably fail of its objects, and be a burden without any equivalent advantage.
§ MR. SHAWrequested the noble Lord (Lord John Russell) to state whether, before he proceeded with the permanent Irish Poor Law Bill, he would be prepared to inform the House what was to be the constitution of the new Poor Law Board. The Poor Law Bill proposed to place great powers in the hands of that Board, and it was but reasonable that the House should know how it was to be formed before they were called upon to confer those powers. Perhaps the noble Lord would have the goodness to say, whether the Bill for the establishment of the new Board would soon be brought in?
LORD J. RUSSELLreplied, that there was a Bill in preparation, which, in the heavy pressure of business, had not yet been sufficiently considered. But that Bill he should likewise propose to move very soon. He quite agreed with the right hon. Gentleman, that the constitution of the Board ought to be settled at the same time as the Bill for amending the law in regard to the relief of the poor.