SECOND READING. (Hansard, 11 June 1883)

§ MR. CALLAN
said, the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ire- 315 land informed the Irish Members at the commencement of the Sitting that the Bill would not be taken to-night. He (Mr. Callan) was sure the Government would not allow the Bill to proceed at the suggestion of the eccentric Member for Carlisle (Sir Wilfrid Lawson).

§ SIR WILFRID LAWSON
said, he was not aware that the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland made any public statement in the House to the effect stated.

§ MR. CALLAN
said, he might remind the House that the Bill substantially was blocked.

§ SIR WILFRID LAWSON
said, the Bill was not blocked on the Paper.

§ MR. SPEAKER
The Order of the Day is open.

§ MR. CALLAN
asked, as a matter of Order, if the hon. Baronet the Member for Carlisle was in Order in moving the second reading of this Bill, it being a Government Bill in the charge of a Member of the Government?

§ MR. SPEAKER
Any Member of the House may move an Order of the Day, and to this Order of the Day no block attaches.

§ MR. O'SULLIVAN
said, that this was a Bill which confiscated a large amount of property; and, therefore, it seemed to him a most unreasonable thing that it should be brought in for discussion after 2 o'clock in the morning. He hoped the House would not be so unreasonable as to make such sweeping changes which the Bill proposed under such disadvantageous circumstances. The Bill did not affect his constituents at all; but he thought that the Bill was so large a one, and that the interests involved were so great, that it would be a hard thing, and a wrong thing, to pass, at that time of the morning, and especially when the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland, who was supposed to have charge of the Bill, on behalf of the Government, was not hero to conduct the Bill. Nothing had boon said in favour of passing the Bill in such a hurry.

§ MR. KENNY
said, that as a matter of Order, he should like to ask if it was not a fact that the Chief Secretary for Ireland gave hon. Members an assurance that the Bill would not be proceeded with to-night?

§ MR. SPEAKER
The hon. Member appeals to me on a point of Order. It is not a point of Order at all.

§ MR. ONSLOW
said, he was sure that the noble Lord the Secretary of State for War (the Marquess of Hartington) did not wish this Bill to come on at that time of the morning. The right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland had been waited upon by deputation after deputation on this matter, and lie was not here at the present time. Surely, they were not expected to pass a Bill of this importance when the Chief Secretary for Ireland was absent. He (Mr. Onslow) believed it was quite an accident that the Bill was not blocked on this occasion. The noble Lord the Secretary of State for War, he was fully persuaded, would agree with him that this was not the proper time at which to take a Bill of this character. He therefore begged to move that the debate be now adjourned.

§ MR. WARTON
seconded the Motion. The information was distinctly conveyed to him by the hon. Gentleman the Member for Louth (Mr. Callan) that the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant had said that the Bill would not be brought in to-night. He (Mr. Warton) was relying upon that promise, and when he saw the finger of the clock standing after 2 o'clock, he never thought that the promoters of the Bill would have the audacity to press the Bill. If Bills were to be pressed forward at such unreasonable hours, it would be necessary to block every Bill that was proposed. It was perfectly intolerable that hon. Gentlemen, many of whom had spent the afternoon on a Grand Committee, should be expected to be in attendance upon the House at that time of the morning. Of course he knew perfectly well the Government wished to kill hon. Members; the Prime Minister had made himself quite unwell, and so had two or three other Members of the Cabinet with the hard labour they were undergoing. Hon. Gentleman must bear the strain as long as they could. But to call upon them to do so was not a thing which would make the Government respected. He had sent away the friends who usually assisted him in such matters. What was now being done only showed what tactics the Government and the hon. Baronet the Member for Carlisle (Sir Wilfrid Lawson), in his intemperate 317 advocacy of temperance, would resort to in order to carry their point.
Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Debate be now adjourned."—(Mr. Onslow.)

THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON
said, he was sure the Government were indebted to the hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Bridport (Mr. Warton) for the great anxiety he had displayed in regard to the state of their health. They, however, would be quite willing to sit up a little longer, if the House were disposed to do so. But, considering the statement that was said to be made by his right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland that evening, and the assurance which he was said to have given, he (the Marquess of Hartington) could not oppose the Motion for the Adjournment of the Debate. There were sometimes misunderstandings of this kind, and it was extremely inconvenient that if an undertaking was given, it was not given to the House itself. He believed, however, the question was not put to his right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland, in consequence of the debate raised by the Leader of the Opposition upon the Motion for the Adjournment of the House. He should not oppose the Motion, but he trusted hon. Members would not immediately place a block against the Bill. He thought his right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland would give an undertaking not to bring the Bill on at any unreasonable hour of the night; and, therefore, he trusted that hon. Gentlemen would not take the opportunity which an adjournment would now afford of blocking the Bill.

§ MR. ONSLOW
said, that he was not prepared to make any conditions whatever. He should most certainly block the Bill, and oppose it in every possible way. He should oppose the Bill, and he should oppose every liquor Bill introduced into the House, unless ample opportunities were given for its full discussion.

§ MR. CALLAN
said, he had asked the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he intended to proceed with the Bill. The right hon. Gentlemen said "No." He then asked the right hon. Gentleman if he (Mr. Callan) was at liberty to so inform his 318 Friends, and the reply was, "Certainly; I have said I do not intend to proceed with the Bill." He might remind the House that the debate on the Motion for the adjournment came suddenly to an end, otherwise he had intended to be in his place at the conclusion of the discussion, and to have asked the question of the right hon. Gentleman publicly.

§ SIR WILFRID LAWSON
said, that, after the very liberal offer the noble Marquess had made to hon. Gentlemen opposite had been repudiated by them, they could not do anything else but divide upon that Motion.

§ MR. CHAMBERLAIN
said, he hoped his hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Sir Wilfrid Lawson) would not put the House to the trouble of a Division. The Government would be willing to go on with the debate if it were not for the pledge which the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary, had given. After the statement which had been made, it would be impossible for the Government to proceed with the Bill.

§ MR. J. N. RICHARDSON
asked if the right hon. Gentleman made a public pledge?

§ MR. CHAMBERLAIN
said, the right hon. Gentleman did not, but the Government understood that he had given it privately.
Motion agreed to.
Debate adjourned till To-morrow, at Two of the clock.