SECOND READING. (Hansard, 9 May 1882)

§ MR. O'SULLIVAN
, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, the Bill had, in a former Session, passed unanimously in that House, and was supported, he believed, not only by the distillers on the one side, but by the temperance party on the other. During this Session it had been blocked by the hon. and learned Member for Bridport (Mr. Warton). The Bill was one for the public benefit. It was very short, and would not occupy more than a minute in reading. It merely provided that spirits should be kept in bond for 12 months. It was well known that good spirits improved by keeping and bad spirits deteriorated, so that, if it were possible to keep spirits in bond for two years, it would be so much the better. He believed, if this Bill was passed, it would do more for temperance than many of the Temperance Bills that had been brought into the House, because it was generally the quality, and not the quantity, that proved mischievous. He hoped there would be no objection to the second reading.

§ MR. MUNDELLA
said, he hoped the hon. Member would not press the second reading, seeing that no Member representing the Treasury was present. He trusted that the hon. Member would bring on the Bill another day.

§ MR. O'SULLIVAN
said, his Bill would hardly have a chance another day, as it was blocked by the hon. and learned Member for Bridport (Mr. Warton.)

§ SIR WILFRID LAWSON
said, he thought it rather hard on the hon. Gentleman that he should be opposed now that he had become a temperance reformer. The Bill might be read a second time, and if anything were wrong it could be put right in Committee. All the hon. Gentleman wanted to do was to keep spirits in bond for one year; last year he wanted to keep them in 380 bond for two years. The longer he kept them in the better.

§ MR. W. H. SMITH
said, he hoped the postponement would be agreed to, as he thought the Bill, in its present form, was one which the Government could not approve.

§ MR. BOORD
said, he understood that this was a general Bill, and not a Bill confined to Ireland. By keeping spirits in bond, it would stop the trade; and though this might or might not have a good effect, according to the view of hon. Members, the present occasion was hardly a fit one for discussing the matter. He was strongly opposed to the second reading being taken that day.

§ MR. CROPPER
begged to move the adjournment of the debate.

§ MR. O'SULLIVAN
said, he was rather surprised to hear the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. W. H. Smith) say that the Bill ought to be opposed by the Government. He had not opposed it himself when he was in Office. The Bill was simply and solely to retain spirits in bond for 12 months, and it did not at all interfere with the sale and re-sale of spirits in bond. He hoped the Motion for the adjournment would not be persevered with.

§ MR. LYON PLAYFAIR
said, that in the unfortunate state in which the House was now, without an Officer of the Treasury, the Treasury asked him to look after the Finance Bills, as by custom his name was on their back. Perhaps a Bill of this kind might not very much interfere with the regulations in regard to finance; but, at the same time, the House was ignorant of the facts. They ought to have the knowledge of those who were responsible for the finances of the country on that subject; and therefore it would be quite impossible, under the circumstances, for the Government to accept the second reading of a Bill of this kind.