PETITIONS PRESENTED. (Hansard, 30 April 1879)

§ MR. M. BROOKS
I beg to present 31 Petitions from different districts in Ireland, including one from the Working Population of Dublin, having no less than 30,000 signatures against the Saturday Closing Bill of the hon. and learned Member for Louth (Mr. Sullivan), a Petition which, on account of its great importance, I beg to move be read by the Clerk at the Table.

MR. SULLIVAN
said, he believed this was the proper time to call attention to the terms of the Petition, and to raise the question whether, in consequence of its irregularity, it should not be received and laid upon the Table of the House. The meeting at which the Petition was represented to have been adopted was held last Sunday in the Phœnix Park, near Dublin, between the hours of 4 and 5 o'clock, and since then there had been published in the Irish newspapers, or some of them, a statement as to the nature of the Petition. In that Petition reference was made to a circumstance that took place at Cork on the same day, very probably about the same hour, and that strongly suggested the idea that the Petition was composed after both meetings had been held. He felt justified, therefore, in calling attention to the irregularity, and he hoped that all the circumstances connected with this Petition might be seriously inquired into.

§ MR. SPEAKER
The Question before the House is "that the said Petition do he upon the Table."

§ SIR WILFRID LAWSON
thought it by no means desirable that the Petition, after the statement of the hon. and learned Member for Louth, should he upon the Table, at all events, until after full examination. It seemed to him to be a very extraordinary Petition, and he hoped the hon. Member who presented it would be prepared to give some explanation.

§ MR. MELDON
I beg to move that the debate be adjourned in order to afford an opportunity for inquiring into the circumstances which have been brought under notice. It certainly would be premature for the Petition to be on the Table.

§ MR. M. BROOKS
I know really nothing of the contents of the Petition, which I received by post this morning. I am at a loss to know what statement in the Petition has been impugned by the hon. and learned Member for Louth. Perhaps the hon. and learned Member will read that portion of the Petition, in order that the House may understand what his complaint is?

§ MR. SPEAKER
The Petition has been already read by the Clerk at the Table, and the Question now before the House is "that the Petition do he upon the Table." If that Motion be agreed to, then it may be followed by an Instruction to the Committee on Public Petitions, to which in the ordinary course it will be referred on the points raised by the hon. and learned Member for Louth.

MR. SULLIVAN
Then, Sir, I will ask my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Kildare County (Mr. Meldon) to withdraw his Motion for the adjournment of the debate, and then allow me to propose a Motion similar to that suggested by you, Sir, for an inquiry by the Committee into the circumstances surrounding this particular Petition. The passage to which I referred is— That the countenance given by your honourable House to such Bills is productive of internecine strife amongst the working population—leading small factions into such conflict with the mass of the people as is calculated to lead to the most serious breaches of law and order, as evidenced by the serious disturbance in Cork on 1430 Sunday, the 27th inst.; and also by the fact that about 1,000 men, women, and children, held an almost impromptu meeting to that of your petitioners, at which about 20,000 people were present, but who generally resisted the provocation thus thrust upon them to commit a breach of the peace, from 4.30 to 5 o'clock being the time at which this incident occurred at Cork. Therefore, while the meeting in the Phoenix Park was being held, and the Petition agreed to, the circumstance at Cork could not have been known in Dublin.

§ MR. MELDON
I beg to withdraw my Motion for adjourning the debate.

§ MR. SPEAKER
Will the hon and learned Member for Louth bring up the Motion which he proposes to make?

MR. SULLIVAN
proceeded to the centre Table, and after examining the Petition which had been presented and read, returned to his seat, and said—I have a personal explanation to make. I find that the Petition does not contain the particular words of which I complained, and which, according to a statement advertised in The Irish Times, were adopted by the opponents of the Bill. But it appears they have been wise enough not to place them before this House. I, therefore, beg to withdraw my Motion.

§ MR. CALLAN
With reference to the point raised by the hon. and learned Member for Louth, with his usual ecstacy and excitement, I desire to state that the meeting in the Phoenix Park was not held at 4 o'clock. The day was a beautiful one, the assemblage was large, fully 20,000 people were present, and the proceedings did not close until 7 o'clock, when the Petition was adopted. So far the hon. and learned Member for Louth is much mistaken, and he appears to have been caught in the trap laid for him by some clever person.