§ MR. PIMsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether he did not, when moving the First Reading of the Irish Land Bill, refer to a Bill for facilitating the transfer of land as one of the measures which the Government proposed to introduce; whether he did not state that these measures would apply, not to Ireland alone, but to the whole Kingdom; whether the Bill introduced into the other House of Parliament by the Lord Chancellor is not the Bill he then referred to; and, if so, why it does not extend to Ireland and Scotland; and, whether it is the intention of the Government to introduce separate Bills on this subject for Ireland and Scotland?
MR. GLADSTONESir, I believe that in introducing the Irish Land Bill, as far as my memory serves me, I said I would not enter into the consideration of the Transfer of Land Bill, because that Bill would not be confined to Ireland. That, at least, is what I ought to have said. The Bill introduced by my noble Friend the Lord Chancellor in "another place" does not include any country except England. My hon. Friend, however, is substantially right in his supposition that this is a mere matter of arrangement. On examination we found that both the state of the law and the machinery of the Bill would render it more convenient to deal with England in one Act first, as when the substantial principles of the law were settled it would be easy to extend them to Ireland. I do not, however, think it would be convenient to mix up this matter with the Irish Land Bill.
§ MR. PIMAssuming that the Bills will be similar in principle, may I ask whether the Irish Bill will be passed this Session?
MR. GLADSTONEThe demands on the time of the House are very great; but I shall be very sorry if we are not able to bring it in this year.