COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 16 April 1885)

§ MR. SEXTON
said, he understood that the operations to be undertaken under this Bill were very extensive, and would cost a great deal of money, both with regard to London and Newcastle. He would like to know what sum the Government intended to spend in those works? He desired to see how far the general policy of the Department with regard to England compared with the niggardly policy which the right hon. Gentleman pursued with regard to Ireland. He should feel it his duty to oppose this Bill, unless he received some more generous intimation as to the operations of the Department in Ireland. He had been endeavouring for some time to get the Mail Service between Dublin and the West of Ireland put upon a footing more in accordance with the necessities of the Public Service of a civilized country; and a Memorial with that object had been presented to the right hon. Gentleman on that subject, signed by Members of that House of all shades of opinion. It appeared that for the sake of £3,000 the Postmaster General intended to allow the Mail Service between Dublin and the West of Ireland to remain in a state obstructive both of trade and of the interests of the country. At the very moment when, for the sake of £3,000, the right hon. Gentleman refused to agree to the wishes of Members of that House, and to submit the matter to arbitration, he was proposing to spend millions of money on palatial buildings in England. But the right hon. Gentleman would find that that was a policy to which Irish Members could not assent, and which they would feel justified in using all the Forms of the House to oppose.

§ MR. SHAW LEFEVRE
said, he doubted whether it was in Order to raise the question of conveyance of mails upon that Motion; but he thought there was no reason to complain of the action of the Government in respect of the Mail Service in Ireland, which, at the proper time, he should be prepared 1963 to defend. He might say, however, that the sum asked for by the Railway Company, for accelerating the mails between Dublin and the West of Ireland, was so large that he did not think he should be justified in acceding to the demand.

§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR
said, the right hon. Gentleman began his remarks by observing that he did not know whether his hon. Friend the Member for Sligo was in Order in referring to the general policy of the Post Office on the Motion for going into Committee on this Bill. He did not know whether the right hon. Gentleman was dissatisfied with the healthful discipline which Mr. Speaker extended to Irish Members on points of Order; but whatever his opinion might be upon a point of Order which he himself raised, the right hon. Gentleman had not hesitated to follow the hon. Member for Sligo in the course he had taken. He thought that hon. Members on those Benches might fairly challenge the right hon. Gentleman as to the generosity of the Department in respect to Ireland. The line running through the county which he had the honour to represent—

§ MR. SPEAKER
I must point out to the hon. Member that the question of the carriage of mails is not relevant to the Question before the House. The remarks made upon that subject up to this point of the discussion I understood to be made by way of illustration.

§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR
said, in that case he envied the dexterity of the Postmaster General in making use of his illustration with regard to the carriage of mails in Ireland. He also, by way of illustration, would like to show the manner in which the Post Office dealt with money voted for the Irish Postal Service. Year after year that 1964 House voted sums of money for Post Office purposes in England and Ireland, and year after year the money so voted with respect to Ireland returned into the Exchequer unexpended, while the sums voted for England were not only expended, but exceeded, and the excess was often effected out of savings at the expense of the Irish Service. This Bill proposed certain powers of expenditure for the Post Office Department in connection with sites. He objected to the way in which the Post Office could expend this money on sites in England—

§ MR. HEALY
Order, Order!

§ MR. SPEAKER
The hon. and learned Member should not be so demonstrative in his remarks.

§ MR. HEALY
Am I to understand that it is out of Order to cry "Order" in this House?

§ MR. SPEAKER
The tone and the way in which the hon. and learned Member expressed himself is out of Order.

§ MR. HEALY
In that case—

§ MR. SPEAKER
The hon. and learned Member in not in Order in addressing the Chair in this way. If the hon. and learned Member continues I shall have to take notice of his interruption.

§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR
said, he was in Order in referring to the expenditure of public money; and he would like to know what portion of the money to be expended under this Bill would be applied in Ireland?