INFECTIOUS DISEASES NOTIFICA TION (IRELAND) BILL.— [BILL 40.] (Hansard, 20 May 1881)

§ DR. LYONS
said, he would appeal to the hon. Member who had charge of the measure, and to the House, to agree to the postponement of the consideration of the measure at this hour of the morning (1.30). The principal provisions of the Bill were opposed to the wishes of certain of the most important of the learned Corporations in Dublin, and it was at the request of the Medical Association of Ireland that he offered opposition to it. At this hour they should not be asked to make progress with the Bill.

§ MR. M. BROOKS
hoped the House would allow the Bill to be considered to-night. The opponents of the measure had sprung a mine upon them that was most unexpected; and he thought that, looking at the fact that the chances of private Members were very few, that this was an important measure, and that the public bodies and private citizens in 1030 Dublin were unanimously in favour of it, the House would do well to give assent to the present stage.

§ MR. MELDON
trusted the Bill would not be allowed to go any further. Under ordinary circumstances he should be willing—so far as he was concerned—to allow an hon. Member facilities for going on with a measure; but this matter was too serious to be disposed of at this hour of the morning. The hon. Member for Dublin had said something which had very much astonished him. He had said the public bodies in Dublin were unanimously in favour of the measure. As a matter of fact, there was anything but unanimity on the subject. The Medical Profession in Dublin was divided on it, as also were the private citizens; and in proof of this he might say that he had been requested to propose a large number of Amendments in Committee. He hoped the stage would not be taken now, and, if it was, he was afraid that the proceeding would not conduce to the future progress of the Bill.

§ MR. R. N. FOWLER
would suggest that the hon. Member in charge of the Bill should persevere with his Motion—"That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair," on the understanding that directly the House went into Committee Progress should be reported. In this way hon. Members would have ample opportunity to put down Amendments to the Bill.

§ MR. CALLAN
pointed out that the Bill had been a long time on the Paper, and that, as there were a large number of Amendments down, it was evident that its provisions had received careful consideration. It was clear that the Government were not opposed to the measure, as the Solicitor General for Ireland made no objection to its being proceeded with. As for the position which the hon. Gentleman the Member for Kildare (Mr. Meldon) had taken up, he (Mr. Callan) could not help saying that it would have been much better for them, and for the interests of their country, if they had spent the time which had just been wasted in the consideration of the hon. Member's abstract Resolution, in the discussion of this measure; and it would have been better for the hon. Member himself to have addressed himself to the subject of the Bill than to the vilification of his country- 1031 men. The hon. Member for Dublin was very attentive in the discharge of his duty, and had supported the Government on every occasion—or with few exceptions—and he was, therefore, glad to see the hon. Member in his place, and hoped he would give all the support in his power to the Bill, especially as the Solicitor General for Ireland seemed ready to go on with his Amendments. He (Mr. Callan) had carefully looked over the Paper; but, although the Bill had been printed a long time, he failed to see any Amendment to it in the name of the hon. and—he might say—learned Member for Dublin (Dr. Lyons). He thought it was incumbent on hon. Members who had the interests of Ireland at heart to go on with their Amendments, and not throw the Bill over until after the Whitsuntide Recess. He trusted the hon. Member for Carlow would proceed with the Bill.

§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)
said, the matter had been for some time under the consideration of the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, and, with his concurrence, he (the Solicitor General for Ireland) had placed on the Paper some Amendments which, before he had put them down, he had submitted to one of the hon. Members who had charge of the Bill to see if he could suggest any acceptable modification or improvement of them. He was fully prepared to proceed with his Amendments; but he was not in charge of the Bill. It appeared to him, under the circumstances, that the suggestion of the hon. Member opposite (Mr. R. N. Fowler) was a reasonable one, and that the hon. Member for Carlow would do well to take a merely formal stage now. The object of the Bill was of great importance, the object being not a private, but a public one. The measure was one the principle of which was much required in several parts of Ireland.