CONSIDERATION. [THIRD NIGHT.] (Hansard, 8 May 1885)

§ MR. BIGGAR
said, the Amendment would serve to equalize the population and to give representation to a considerable minority. It was said that an Irish Catholic would be put forward for this division as it at present stood; but a man might be Irish and Catholic without representing the political views of the Irish people in that division. He had heard that the man to be put forward by the Liberal Party was an undertaker. They would prefer a man belonging to some other position in life. He contended that unless this ward was limited as suggested in the Amendment the labouring class voters would be swamped by the votes of wholesale.

§ MR. JOHN REDMOND
said, he hoped the Government would not regard the discussion as closed. Very great interest was taken in the matter, not only by the Irish Members but by the Irish people in England, whom the Irish Members in a certain sense represented. He thought the House would admit that they were justified in making this change for the better representation of the Irish in England, when the alteration did not in any sense violate those principles which had been laid down for the guidance of the Commissioners. Whatever proposals in this direction might be accepted, the result would be 34 that the Irish population in England and Scotland would obtain but a scant representation in that House.

§ MR. WILLIAM REDMOND
observed that under the Bill the 2,000,000 of Irishmen in England would only be able to return one Member to that House, while the few Protestants in Ireland would be able to return 25 Members. He should support the Amendment, because it would do something towards giving some of the Irish residents in England representation.

§ MR SEXTON
said, the Members for Liverpool were the only opponents of the Amendment, and surely their opposition did not constitute a dissent which ought to govern the intelligence and will of the right hon. Baronet in charge of the Bill. The question was whether the Amendment did or did not improve the Commissioners' scheme. He maintained that it improved the scheme, for it brought together populations of similar pursuits. In Ireland the Government had taken 1,000,000 of people, and in all debates and discussions held them apart as people of a certain creed or of certain opinions, sometimes as Protestants and more times as Loyalists, and to this 1,000,000 of people 25 to 30 Members had been given. To the 2,000,000 of Irish in England, who were far more distinct from the rest of the population than that 1,000,000 in Ireland, only about one Member would be given for one of the divisions of London. He could well understand that neither the Liberals nor the Tories were willing to enable the Irish population in England to return Members to that House, because they could never calculate upon which way such Members would vote.

MR. THOROLD ROGERS,
who had an alternative scheme, objected to the proposed division on the ground of the inequality of population between the several divisions. Bermondsey would have upwards of 84,000, whereas the two other divisions would only have between 67,000 and 69,000. This was a departure from the principle on which the Bill was based. He would not, however, press his Amendment.

§ MR. BRYCE
proposed, in page 37, at the end, to insert an Amendment which he said was received with general favour in the Tower Hamlets. He thought that in the case of boroughs it was better to have local names taken from places already known rather than from points of the compass, and the names he now proposed were well-known in East London, while some of them also possessed literary or historical interest.

§ MR. SEXTON
said, that following the course adopted in some English and Scotch cities, he proposed to call the divisions of Dublin City after the his- 37 toric sites or buildings in those divisions. The Commissioners suggested that they should be called South-West, North-West, &c, but those names conveyed no definite idea, and it should also be remembered that the divisions of Dublin County were named after the points of the compass. He now proposed that "North-West Dublin" should be called "College Green Division," "North-East Dublin," "Dublin Harbour Division," "South-East Dublin," Donny-brook Division," and "South-West Dublin," "St. Patrick's Division.