[BILL 58.] SECOND READING. (Hansard, 10 February 1880)

§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER
The principle of this Bill is one of which the Government entirely approve. We certainly do not approve of some of the methods which the hon. and gallant Member proposes to adopt, and it is a Bill which, in many respects, will require amendment. The matter, however, is one to which we attach a great deal of importance, and there are several proposals which we should desire to see introduced into the measure. In the first place, we do not think there ought to be any time wasted; and, on the other hand, we are also of opinion that the time which the hon. and gallant Member pro- 450 poses for re-payment is rather short. There are other points also to which I shall desire presently to call his attention, and upon which I think I shall be able to show him amendments are desirable. The course which I propose to adopt is, therefore, to agree to the Second Reading of the Bill, and to commit itpro formâ,in order that there shall be no unnecessary delay, the object to be attained being one on which we are all entirely agreed. I, for one, have not the least desire to delay the Second Reading of the Bill.

§ MAJOR NOLAN
said, at that hour of the night, after the long debate on Irish affairs which had just ended, he would not weary the House by going into the details of this question. He might say, however, that he had been looking over the records of the House, and he found that there had never been any regular Committee on the important subject of the potato disease at any time. There were some Reports on the matter; but there had never been any thorough examination of the subject. He believed there were some parts of Ireland where the cultivation of the potato was very badly conducted. That was a point of the greatest importance, for the people ought to be taught the most scientific method of dealing with this root. It was a plant which was not propagated in the ordinary way like other plants in agriculture from the seed, but was a tuber. It was remarkable that the varieties of potato which had been introduced within the last 15 or 20 years were those which were found most successfully to resist the disease. He would not give his own opinion further on the matter that night, especially as there were many points which demanded a great deal of inquiry, and as to which he believed an abundance of evidence would be forthcoming. It was certainly quite clear that great success had been occasionally attained in the cultivation of this root. In his own county neither the Champion nor the Magnum Bonum had failed, while the disease had attacked almost every other sort. For his own part, he believed if they had a Committee that means might be found, if not wholly to extirpate the disease, at any rate to stop it to a very largo extent. As also the crop of potatoes in Ireland alone was worth £10,000,000 451 a-year, besides many millions both to England and Scotland, it would be of the utmost importance to collect all the scientific evidence on the subject. He did not mean this Committee to go into any political or social question, but merely to ascertain what were the scientific facts bearing on this disease.

§ MR. J. LOWTHER
As a Royal Commission is, at the present time, inquiring into the agricultural depression in Ireland and other parts of the United Kingdom, we might question the expediency, in ordinary times, of opening an inquiry into this special branch of the subject with which they are dealing. Under the peculiar circumstances, however, I quite agree with the hon. and gallant Member in his desire for a Committee, and in the object which he hopes to attain. At any rate, that Committee will not open up any dangerous form of agitation.

§ MAJOR O'GORMAN
hoped that these experiments would not be entered upon this year. They had quite enough to do to provide the people with proper seed, without undertaking anything else. They need not, at all events, enter into scientific experiments with regard to the propagation of the potato. That might be deferred till more prosperous times.