LEAVE. (Hansard, 17 March 1859)

§ MR. BRADY

said, he rose to move for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the laws which regulated the qualification and registration of Parliamentary voters in Ireland, 13 &c 14 Vict., c. 68–69, s. 27. He would beg the House to remember the fact that the electors were obliged to give notice on the 20th July; and then the 27th 293 clause provided that the clerks of the peace, having received the notices of objections to voters up to the 20th August, were by the following section authorized am) commanded, not only to regulate the list according to the baronies, but they were to have a list printed and published in every district in the county on the 22nd of the same month, thus giving each clerk only one clear day for all that duty to be performed. Now, it had been found that such a short time worked with great inconvenience, and greatly to the injury of the counties. His object was to repeal the 27th clause, and to extend the time from the 22nd to the 80th of August in the same year.

§ MR. SOTHERON ESTCOURT

said, the hon. Gentleman had taken him rather by surprise. That being St. Patrick's night, he should not have expected that any Irish Gentleman would propose to introduce a Bill which, on the face of the notice, appeared to portend something like a Reform Bill for Ireland. Presuming that the Bill was of more serious importance than from the explanation of the hon. Gentleman it seemed to be, he had expected that the hon. Gentleman would have made an arrangement with a Gentleman who was not then present, and who knew more about the subject than he (Mr. Sotheron Estcourt) did, as to the time for submitting this Motion to the House. [Mr. BRADY: I did at range with the noble Secretary for Ireland.] He confessed he did not understand either the defects which existed or the proposed mode of remedying them, notwithstanding the pains which the hon. Gentleman had taken to explain both the one and the other. However, when he saw the Bill in print he should, no doubt, be better able to understand it. If it was true that proper time was not allowed by the law for the publication of the objections to voters, the time ought, no doubt, to be enlarged, and, on the understanding that that was merely the object of the Bill, he, on the part of the Government, had no objection to offer to its introduction.