MR. POPE HENNESSY AND THE COMMITTEE OF SELECTION. (Hansard, 28 February 1860)

§ COLONEL WILSON PATTEN
reported from the Committee of Selection,— That on the 17th of February instant they appointed a Committee on Group No. 1 of Railway Bills, and gave to each Member sufficient notice of his appointment, and transmitted to each Member a blank form of the Declaration required, with a request that he would forthwith return it, with his signature attached. That Mr. John Pope Hennessy was one of the Members so appointed, but that they have not received from him either the aforesaid Declaration, or any excuse in lieu thereof. The Committee of Selection have therefore, in conformity with the 91st Standing Order, to report the name of Mr. John Pope Hennessy to the House. The Committee of Selection had a very invidious duty to perform in nominating Members to serve on private Committees, and they took every means in their power to ascertain at what period of the Session it was most convenient for Members to serve. This had been done in reference to all the Members who had been nominated to serve 1931 on the Select Committee on Group No. 1 of Railway Bills. The Committee had met that morning, and one of the Members not being present, the Committee could not proceed to business, the consequence of which was that the parties had been put to an expense of at least £300. He was sorry to say that this was a case of considerable aggravation. The Messenger who carried the summons had placed it in the hands of the hon. Member for King's County himself; and two or three messages had been sent to him since to see that the Orders of the House were complied with. It was not until that morning, when there was no possibility of getting over the difficulty, that the hon. Gentleman was not present, the Committee had in consequence to be broken up, and the expenses were thrown away. No doubt the hon. Gentleman was a young Member of the House, but at the same time it was absolutely necessary that hon. Members should make themselves acquainted with the rules of the House, in order to prevent the inconvenience and expense which was incurred by such neglect.

MR. RIDLEY
, as one of the Members of the Committee, begged to say that he had had a calculation of the expenses to which the parties would be put by the non-attendance of the hon. Member placed in his hand, from which it appeared that the expenses of Counsel, Agents, and Engineers, would be £266, of other witnesses £54, making £320; besides other expenses, which would bring up the sum to at least £400.

§ MR. E. P. BOUVERIE
said, he thought the course proposed to be pursued was most inadequate. It was really too bad, considering the pains which the hon. and gallant Member (Colonel Wilson Patten) took to consult the convenience of Members, that any hon. Gentleman who had really received due notice of his nomination, should put parties to such expense by neglecting to attend. Some further reparation did certainly seem necessary to be made on the first blush of the case, and he had expected to hear the hon. and gallant Member move that the absentee be ordered to attend in his place in the House immediately. Nothing short of that course ought to be pursued, and he would therefore move—"That Mr. John Pope Hen- 1932 nessy be ordered to attend this House in his place."

§ COLONEL WILSON PATTEN
said, he understood the hon. Gentleman had just gone to Ireland, and it could not therefore make any difference whether he were ordered to attend in his place in the Committee or in the House.