BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE (SATURDAY SITTING.) (Hansard, 8 August 1890)

§ (4.23.) MR. W. H. SMITH
I beg to move— That, to-morrow, as soon as Government Business is disposed of, Mr. Speaker do adjourn the House without Question put. I may explain that the Motion is intended to prevent an indefinite prolongation of the Sitting through the possibility of private Members' Bills being taken, and which there is no prospect of seeing passed into law this Session.

§ (4.24.) MR. LEA (Londonderry, S.)
I beg to move an Amendment providing that the Committee stage of the Intoxicating Liquors (Ireland) Bill shall also be included in the day's business. I may point out that in the North of Ireland the feeling is almost unanimous in favour of this measure, while in many parts of the South of Ireland the feeling is also strong in its support. I think that a great many of the Amendments which appear on the Paper are what might be called bogus Amendments; I may almost say that they are frivolous Amendments, many of which would be ruled out of order on the decision of one 278 Amendment. The Prime Minister stated the other day that he had a mandate to consider Ireland; but what have the Government done for Ireland this Session? [Cries of "Order" and "Question!"]

§ MR. SPEAKER
I must invite the hon. Member to confine his remarks to the subject of the Motion.

§ MR. LEA
Perhaps I may be permitted to point out that, although facilities have been promised for the past two years to consider this Bill, when the opportunities arrived for considering it they were taken away by the Government in the course of appropriating the Wednesday Sittings.

§ (4.27.) MR. J. O'CONNOR (Tipperary S.)
I must press the First Lord of the Treasury to resist the Amendment, on the ground that there is no urgency whatever for the Bill. I also object to the measure being considered at a late hour of the evening at the fag end of the Session, and deny that the Amendments are in any sense frivolous. Indeed, there is one Amendment on which alone, unless I were stopped, I could occupy the time of the House for two hours without running any risk of infringing the Rules of Debate.

§ (4.28.) MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)
The hon. Member is opposed to all reform in the interests of temperance.

§ MR. J. O'CONNOR
I am as much a temperance reformer as the hon. Gentleman; and if he would only give facilities for the consideration of the Bill of my hon. and learned Friend the Member for North Longford, which has my name on the back of it, he would do more to promote the cause of temperance in Ireland than by pressing this measure forward.

§ (4.30.) MR. T. W. RUSSELL
I know it is an unpopular thing at the close of the Session to make an appeal of this kind; but Members have a duty to perform to their constituents, and I should be lacking in my duty if I did not protest against the treatment 279 this Bill has received from the present Government ever since it came into power. I have no doubt what the fate of the Bill will be on a Division. I have no doubt that the appeal of the hon. Member for Tipperary will be of greater avail than that of my hon. Friend, but that does not divest us of responsibility in the matter. This Bill was passed first by a Conservative Government in 1878. It contained a time limit which expired in 1882, and the measure has been continued every year since in the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill. It has been hanging, practically, between earth and heaven, no one knowing whether or not it is to be made permanent. All sorts of appeals have been made to the Government, and they have been fairly met, but, in the end, nothing has been done. Two years ago they appointed a Select Committee to inquire into this subject. The Attorney General for Ireland presided over that Committee, and, as the right hon. and learned Gentleman knows, the evidence taken from all parts of Ireland was overwhelmingly in favour of the Bill. When this measure came on for Second Reading during the present Session it was carried by a majority of over 150, the majority being composed of Members from all parts of the House. What I feel is this—and I am driven to say it—that, looking at the results of the Session and the treatment the Bill has received at the hands of men who profess to be its friends, namely, the present Government, I shall be reluctantly compelled, when I go back to Ireland, to tell the people that I despair of getting this Parliament to do anything for that country.

§ (4.34.) MR. A. O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)
If the hon. Member who has just sat down were a man that one would feel one would like to go tiger hunting with, I should be with him in this matter, as I think this Bill is one of great value to Ireland. But I notice that though the hon. Member talks a great deal about the duty of the Irish Members to their constituents, his bark is a great deal worse than his bite. He says he shall go back to Ireland and tell his constituents how he despairs of ever getting any good for Ireland from this Government.

§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL
I did not say this Government, but this House. The last Government was worse than this.

§ MR. A. O'CONNOR
The hon. Member knows that the House at the present moment is at the mercy of determined men. There are 80 Votes still to be taken in Supply. If the hon. Member will use all the Forms of the House in order to compel the Government and the House to pass this measure, I will go any lengths with him.

§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL
If the hon. Member wishes me to join in deliberate and wilful obstruction of the regular business of the House, I shall not do so.

§ MR. A. O'CONNOR
I do not ask the hon. Member to indulge in deliberate obstruction, but I know the Government and the House are squeezable on this matter. The main function of this House is to discuss the Estimates, and it will be perfectly legitimate to debate these 80 Votes which have been relegated to a couple of days at the end of the Session.

§ (4.38.) MR. W. H. SMITH
If it rested with myself alone, I should give hon. Members opposite all the facilities in my power to enable them to pass this measure. But I have to consider the House of Commons as well as my own personal feelings; and as I have asked Saturday Sittings to be taken for Government business, I feel I should not be acting in good faith with the House if I consent that other business, however necessary in the views of hon. Gentlemen, should be added to the list which the House has been asked to consider. I sincerely hope this very important measure, the Intoxicating Liquors (Ireland) Bill, may be dealt with at an early day, but I cannot ask the House to support the Amendment.