§ Order for Committee read.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair."—(Mr. Butt.)
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH moved, as an Amendment, that the Order be discharged, and that the Bill, which involved many legal technicalities, be referred to a Select Committee. He had made a private communication of his intention to the hon. and learned Gentleman opposite. He had no desire to shelve the Bill; but the appointments of sheriffs in England were governed by various statutes, some of them of great antiquity, and he thought that a Committee composed of his noble Friend (the Marquess of Hartington), himself, and a few other legal Members, would soon be able to arrive at a mutual understanding, and perhaps be better able to settle the details of this measure than a Committee of the "Whole House.
§ Amendment proposed, to leave out from the word "That" to the end of the Question, in order to add the words "the Bill be committed to a Select Committee,"—(Sir Michael Hicks-Beach.)—instead thereof.
§ Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
§ MR. BUTTsaid, the proposal took him by surprise. However, he accepted the proposal, though with considerable reluctance, as he did not see what there was to be referred to a Select Committee. The measure involved no legal technicalities whatever, and he distrusted the proposal of the right hon. Baronet, as he believed it would be cited as a verification of the boast made by certain journals in Ireland that, although the second reading had been assented to by the Government, some means would be found of strangling the Bill in Committee.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Dr. BALL)believed that the Bill could be much more advantageously considered in a Select Committee than in a Committee of the Whole House. Great inconvenience would be caused if the Bill should not receive full consideration, for it was in direct conflict with the Prerogative of the Crown and the system which prevailed in England. Besides, one of the Members for Londonderry (Mr. R. Smyth) had given Notice of an Amendment to the Bill. There existed no desire to interrupt its progress, but rather to make its provisions exactly conformable to those of the English system.
§ MR. R. SMYTHexplained that it was not from any spirit of hostility to the Bill, but owing to peculiar local circumstances, that he had placed on the Paper a Motion for the exclusion of the county of Londonderry from its operation.
§ MR. M'CARTHY DOWNINGexpressed a hope that the hon. and learned Member for Limerick (Mr. Butt) would agree to the proposition of the Government.
§ Question put, and negatived.
§ Words added.
§ Main Question, as amended, put, and agreed to.
§ Bill committed to a Select Committee.
§ And, on May 5, Committee nominated as fol-follows:—Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH, Marquis of HAKTINCTON, Mr. ATTORNEY GENERAL for IRELAND, Mr. BUTT, Mr. GOLDNEY, Mr. LEEMAN, Mr. D. PLUNKET, Mr. CHARLES LEWIS, Sir COLMAN O'LOGHLEN, and Mr. GREGORY: Power to send for persons, papers, and records: Five to be the quorum.
§ And, on May 7, Mr. POWER added.
§ House adjourned at a quarter to One o'clock.