HC Deb 05 June 1857 vol 145 cc1275-6

Order for Committee read.

House in Committee.

MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALD

said, he must appeal to the Government not to go on with the Bill, in the absence of members of the legal profession in Ireland, who alone were capable of discussing it. He should move that the Chairman report progress.

MR. MALINS

trusted that the Government would not persevere.

MR. J. D. FITZGERALD

said, the Bill was substantially an unopposed Bill last Session, and it was only owing to his being a day too late to comply with the Resolution of the House of Lords that it was dropped. The Committee was postponed before the recess to suit the convenience of hon. and learned Members, and he was now asked to postpone it again. If he had to yield night after night to those requests, he might as well abandon the Bill at once.

MR. VANCE

said, that the Bill was one of detail, not of principle, and therefore any discussion must necessarily take place in Committee. There was no objection, that he knew of, to the principle of the measure, but it would be impossible to proceed satisfactorily with the details of a measure comprehending 400 clauses in the absence of those who had the greatest acquaintance with the state of the Irish law.

MR. MALINS

said, he should offer every opposition the rules of the House permitted if the Government did not comply with such a reasonable request.

MR. J. D. FITZGERALD

said, it was because the Bill contained so many clauses that he wished to make some progress, but he would meet the convenience of hon. and learned Members, and consent to the Chairman reporting progress and resume the Committee on Monday next.

MR. HENLEY

said, he would suggest that arrangements should be made for taking the Bill at a morning sitting on Wednesday. They would then probably be able to go through it at once, instead of taking it up piecemeal, which he did not think would enable them to do justice to it. He hoped it would not be brought on after twelve o'clock, when they lost as much time in discussing whether they should do anything or not as would enable them to make some substantial progress.

MR. SEYMOUR FITZGERALD

said, it was of importance that a Return which had been laid on the table should be in the hands of Members before the Bill was discussed. He hoped, that if the Return was not in the hands of Members on Monday, the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland would postpone the Committee until Thursday next.

MR. MALINS

said, Monday was tolerably well disposed of if the Army Estimates were to be taken after the Oaths Bill. A Bill of this importance ought not to be brought on after midnight.

Bill considered in Committee.

House resumed: Committee report progress; to sit again on Monday next.

House adjourned at a Quarter after Twelve o'clock, till Monday next.