COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 1 August 1874)

§ MR. W. SHAW
moved the omission of a sub-section under which the advances to the different counties would be restricted to certain proportions. If the industries of one county did not stand in need of assistance, the money in hand ought, he contended, to be available for the purposes of a neighbouring county.

§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Dr. BALL)
said, that these restrictions were proposed to meet the equitable rights of certain counties in Ireland, and submitted that as the clause had been carefully considered it should not be disturbed.

§ MR. BUTT
complained of the narrowness of the measure, and expressed a hope that the restrictions which now existed would be abolished.

§ MR. M'CARTHY DOWNING
, who had intended to move on the Motion for going into Committee on the Bill, that the House resolve itself into the said Committee that day three months, regretted that he had found it impossible to arrive in the House soon enough to propose his Motion. He complained of the manner in which, upon successive stages, he had been prevented from stating his objections to the Bill. It was one of the most extraordinary which had ever been brought before the House of Commons. A Resolution had been passed that Session on the Motion of his hon. Friend the Member for Limerick (Mr. Synan) stating that the sea fisheries of Ireland were in a decaying state and ought to be aided by the State. Now, the Government, in order to carry out that Resolution, had seized a fund which had been appropriated by Act of Parliament to other purposes. In the year 1822, when there was a famine in Ireland, the good citizens of London collected, under the King's letter, £350,000 for that famine. Of that sum £300,000 was spent and £50,000 remained. The donors of the gift said that that sum of £50,000 should be divided between the 10 counties in Ireland which they thought merited it most. County trustees were appointed, and in 1827 a committee from the county of Cork was named, presided over jointly by the Roman Catholic and Protestant Bishops. The sum of £5,000 was devoted to the building of agricultural schools and to instruct the people in agricultural science. That money was never given to the county of Cork. The committee in London, finding the scheme did not work well, called in the several sums which were then in the hands of trustees, and under the provisions of 11 & 12 Vict., that money was voluntarily placed in the hands of the Ministry of the day, and vested in the Crown for the purposes specified in the Act. He contended that the money had been diverted from its proper channel, by the Government permitting loans from this fund to be made in aid of the Irish Fisheries. The Prime Minister had complained once this Session of not being able to understand one of his own Bills. If he had read this Bill 1105 he must have come to a similar conclusion. The draftsman was so ignorant of Ireland that in one of the sections he described Limerick as a maritime county. Why, there never had been a fisherman there. Another section referred to a second Schedule, yet there was no second Schedule in the Bill at all. He could point out other gross errors in the Bill, and he asked the Government whether they were really serious in asking the House to pass a measure so loosely drawn, and to seize a fund which had been appropriated years ago to other and different purposes. If the Government were indicted before an honest jury they would be convicted of obtaining money by false pretences. The Bill was a miserable evasion of getting out of the obligation imposed upon the Government by the Resolution of the House to which he had referred. The Government were bound to carry out that Resolution, and he did not believe that they would lose a single shilling by any advance that might be made. He regretted that his late arrival hindered him from attempting to postpone the second reading of the Bill.

MR. MACARTNEY
said, the Irish people had nothing to thank the Government for in this matter. They were simply giving them money which already belonged to them.