SECOND READING. [ADJOURNED DEBATE.] (Hansard, 26 June 1884)

§ MR. HEALY
said, that before the Motion was put he would ask the House to consider what it would involve. There was a Morning Sitting to-day, and he would put it to hon. Members whether their time could not be more profitably employed than in taking a measure which was almost certain to be talked out? The Government had their Irish land and education schemes, and a number of other measures which did not relate to Ireland, to dispose of; and would it not be better to proceed with one of these than for the third time waste a day over the Irish Sunday Closing Bill? Seeing that the measure only applied to five cities, there could not be said to be any very keen demand for it. He would ask the Government to give some consideration to the wishes of certain Members of the House, and 1514 to remember that there were other Bills about which the people of Ireland were more anxious than they were about this Sunday Closing Bill. They were anxious, for instance, to see whether the hybrid Board under the Purchase Bill of the Government was to be carried or not.

§ MR. COURTNEY
said, the Government very much regretted the waste of time which occurred; but he trusted that in the course of to-morrow they would see the second reading of the Bill in question disposed of.

§ MR. HEALY
Very well; we shall see.

§ MR. COURTNEY
I am not able to say positively that we shall; but I hope so. We want to get rid of this Bill—it is an obstacle that blocks the way.

§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR
wished to know what Bill would be put on the Paper immediately after the Irish Sunday Closing Bill?

§ MR. COURTNEY
The Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases Bill.

§ MR. WILLIAM REDMOND
said, that, as one who supported the Bill proposed to be brought on as the first Order to-morrow, he wished to say that it would tend to the more speedy passage of the measure ultimately, if Bills of a more important character were disposed of by the Government first. There could be no doubt that the supporters of the Bill in Ireland would view with a great deal more satisfaction the action of the Government in taking up and disposing of Bills of a more pressing character. As he said, he was a supporter of the Sunday Closing Bill; but he did not think the Government should bring it forward when there were so many Bills requiring a more pressing attention at the present moment. He hoped the Government would reconsider the matter, and put down on the Paper some measure of greater importance than this.