HC Deb 27 February 1877 vol 232 cc1155-6
MR. DUNBAR

moved that the Select Committee on the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors on Sunday (Ireland) Bill do consist of 19 Members; that the Marquess of Hamilton and Mr. Richard Power be added to the Committee.

SIR MICHAEL HICKS - BEACH

was not inclined to resist the Motion if the House were generally in favour of it. He believed the number on the Committee was already sufficiently large, but if the House desired to increase it, he had no objection to the names proposed.

MR. BIGGAR

objected to the Motion as wholly unnecessary, as the number of Members on the Committee was amply sufficient.

SIR WILFRID LAWSON

thought the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland might have given some reasons for rejecting the Motion, and hoped the House would adopt it.

MR. DUNBAR

said, he was under the impression that no opposition would be offered to his Motion, but hoped that some hon. Members representing large towns like Waterford and Limerick would be added to the Committee.

MR. MELDON

was willing to resign his place as a Member of the Committee in favour of the hon. Member for Waterford, and hoped the Motion of his hon. Friend would be adopted.

DR. CAMERON

said, the large towns in Ireland were already represented on the Committee, and the Motion was therefore unnecessary.

SIR WILLIAM HART DYKE

said, the Government were most anxious to meet the views of hon. Gentlemen opposite in the proposed increase of the number of the Committee. As a rule, no one would deny that the larger these Committees were made, the more unmanageable they became. There was, no doubt, a strong point in favour of the appointment of the hon. Member for the city of Waterford, inasmuch as that was one of the towns to which it was thought the Bill could not be made to apply. He rose, not so much to urge any particular course upon the House, as to say that his right hon. Friend accepted the proposal in a peaceful spirit, feeling that there was something to be said in favour of the addition to the Committee. It was a question for the House to decide, and he would suggest the Motion being postponed, to leave a little further time for the consideration of the subject.

Motion, by leave, withdrawn.