§ Bill, as amended, considered.
§ SIR HUGH CAIRNSsaid, that the Bill proposed to abolish the local police in the town of Belfast, and he now proposed, in accordance with the recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry, to move the following clause:—
§
(Restrictions as to Age)
Notwithstanding any regulations requiring persons entering the Constabulary Force to be unmarried or to be under a certain ago, the Inspector General of the Constabulary Force in Ireland shall admit into the said Force any constable of the said local Police Force whose age shall not exceed forty years, and who within one calendar month after such notification in the "Dublin Gazette" as aforesaid, shall apply to be admitted, and who in other respects shall be eligible according to the said regulations.
§ Clause brought up, and read 1°
§ SIR ROBERT PEELsaid, he must oppose the clause. Under it men would be taken into the constabulary who were not practised in its rules, and the Inspector General was decidedly of opinion that these local police should not be admitted into the Irish constabulary force. If any of them complied with the regulations of the force, they would of course be accepted, but he held it was undesirable they should be admitted as a body. It would also cast an additional expense on the country.
LORD NAASsaid, he should support the clause. It was hard that the town of Belfast should be charged with the superannuation of any of these men who were eligible for the general constabulary force.
§ Motion made, and Question put, "That the said Clause be now read a second time."
§ The House divided:—Ayes 63; Noes 61: Majority 2.
§ Clause read 2°, and added.
§ Another Clause (Inspector General of Constabulary,)—(Sir Robert Peel.)
§ Clause brought up, read 1a; 2a; and committed; considered in Committee, reported, with an Amendment, and added.
§ LORD NAAS moved to insert schedule—
§ [Same as Schedule in Bill before amended.]
§ Clause 3, leave out after, "whereas it is expedient to alter the distribution of the Constabulary Force," to "Provided," and insert "in the several counties and towns in Ireland, and to allot to the town of Belfast a just proportion thereof; Be it therefore Enacted, That the Schedule to this Act annexed, and the distribution of Constabulary Force therein provided, shall be substituted for the Schedule annexed to the Act of the twentieth and twenty-first years of Her Majesty, chapter seventeen."
§ Brought up, and read 1°.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Schedule be now read a second time."
§ SIR ROBERT PEELsaid, he would remind the House that in 1867 the Lord Lieutenant would have power to re-allot the amount of constabulary for each county, and until that time he could assure the House that no change would be made in the charge upon the respective counties.
§ SIR HUGH CAIRNSsaid, that although a personal promise on the part of the right hon. Baronet (Sir Robert Peel) was a sufficient guarantee for his own intentions, it was not a security for the future action of any Lord Lieutenant who might exercise power before 1867.
§ MR. BLAKEsaid, he hoped the right hon. Baronet (Sir Robert Peel) would adhere to the schedule in the Bill.
§ LORD CLAUD HAMILTONsaid, he thought there should be some more specific arrangement provided for in the Bill.
§ In answer to The O'CONOR Don,
LORD NAASsaid, that in re-inserting the schedule he proposed adopting the numbers inserted by the right hon. Baronet (Sir Robert Peel).
§ SIR ROBERT PEELsaid, he would, in that case, consent to the Motion of the noble Lord.
LORD NAASsaid, he would then withdraw his Motion, for the purpose of allowing the right hon. Baronet to propose the amended schedule.
§ Motion and Schedule, by leave, withdrawn.
§ New Schedule added.
§ An Amendment made.
§ Clause 4 (Increase and Reduction of Numbers of Constabulary by Lord Lieutenant).
§ Amendment proposed, in page 2, line 38, to leave out the words "three hundred and twenty," in order to insert the words "two hundred and seventy,"—(Lord Naas,) —instead thereof.
§ SIR ROBERT PEELsaid, he must oppose the Amendment. The latter number had been adopted after considerable discussion in Committee. He could not yield on this point.
§ SIR HUGH CAIRNSsaid, he supported the Amendment on the ground that the lesser number was recommended by all the witnesses who were examined on the Commission.
§ Question put, "That the words 'three hundred and twenty' stand part of the Bill."
§ The House divided:—Ayes 49; Noes 47: Majority 2.
§ Another Amendment made.
§ Bill to be read 3a To-morrow.