SECOND READING. (Hansard, 30 April 1885)

§ DR. LYONS,
in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, its object was to provide increased facilities for the registration of membership of the College of Surgeons in Ireland. The Bill was approved by the Royal University of Ireland, and by the University of Dublin, and the Members for the latter University had put their names to the Bill. It had also been examined by the Department of the Privy Council, and to meet their views he had undertaken to introduce a few verbal Amendments.

§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR
confessed that the Bill had come upon him by surprise. It was now 20 minutes to 2 o'clock in the morning; and in his opinion the hon. Gentleman (Dr. Lyons) would best consult the interests of the Bill and the interests of the House by postponing the second reading till another day. He (Mr. T. P. O'Connor) had not had time to master the details of the measure; and certainly the remarks of the hon. Gentleman the Member for Dublin were pitched in so low a key that they did not reach the part of the House in which he (Mr. T. P. O'Connor) sat. He could say with, perfect confidence that, with, the exception of the hon. Gentleman himself, no one in the House at the present moment had the least idea of what the Bill 1255 proposed. It was too much to ask them at 20 minutes to 2 o'clock in the morning to pass the second reading of a Bill of the meaning and purpose of which they had no idea; and in order to give the House an opportunity of considering the Bill more carefully, and, at the same time, to give the hon. Gentleman an opportunity of making some of them a little better acquainted with his proposals, he (Mr. T. P. O'Connor) begged to move that the debate be now adjourned.

§ MR. MUNDELLA
said, he hoped no objection would be raised to reading the Bill a second time on that occasion. It had been very carefully considered at the Privy Council Office and at the National University. [Cries of "What is that?" and "There is no such University!"] It was a Bill in a very small compass, and with the Amendments the hon. Gentleman (Dr. Lyons) agreed to insert it would be a very valuable measure.

§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR
What does it propose?

§ MR. SEXTON
said, he thought the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Mundella) had not given them any reason which would induce the hon. Member for Gal-way (Mr. T. P. O'Connor) to withdraw his Motion for the adjournment of the debate. He (Mr. Sexton) had looked into the Bill, and, so far as he had discovered, it was drawn with a view of shrouding its meaning from the minds of ordinary persons. It might be that by the Bill it was desired to give to the physicians in the Queen's College increased powers. He and his hon. Friends, however, were not disposed to grant the increased powers desired without scrutinizing them very closely. He understood the hon. Member for Dublin (Dr. Lyons) to state as a recommendation of the Bill that the names of the two right hon. and learned Gentlemen the Members for the University of Dublin appeared upon the back of the Bill. Now, those Gentlemen, however gifted personally they might be, were not so highly regarded by public opinion in Ireland as to be entitled to have any claim they might make in the House of Commons pass without examination. 1256 The argument of the Vice President of the Council (Mr. Mundella) that the measure had been carefully considered by the Privy Council was one that had no great weight with the Irish Members. He hoped his hon. Friend (Mr. T. P. O'Connor) would persevere with his Motion.

§ MR. HEALY
trusted that after what had been said the Government would not press the Bill now. All that hon. Members wanted was to understand the Bill. The hon. Gentleman the Member for Dublin (Dr. Lyons) had acquired the habit of speaking in the House as if he was addressing himself and not the Speaker, consequently it was impossible for hon. Members to understand a single word he said. If the right hon. Gentleman the Vice President of the Council (Mr. Mundella) would kindly say what the Bill was about they would give it their best consideration; but they certainly could not be asked to pass it without understanding it. He would undertake to say that, if Mr. Speaker himself were to take it and read it without explanation, he would be able to form no opinion as to what it meant.