§ (5.58.) SIR G. CAMPBELLThere are on the Paper about 50 Votes for Report, then the Indian Budget, and after that some important Bills. Does the right hon. Gentleman propose to go on with the Indian Budget, the 50 Votes for Report, and the very important Bills to a late hour in the morning?
§ SIR R. FOWLER (London)Will the right hon. Gentleman not allow the Indian Budget Debate to be adjourned, as was done in 1873?
§ MR. GOSCHENIt is hoped that the House will go through the Report with some rapidity, if hon. Members will only exercise some of the discretion they showed yesterday. I am sure it is the general wish of the House that we should make progress. I am disposed to adhere rigidly to the order of business.
§ MR. CRILLY (Mayo, N.)I wish to know from the right hon. Gentleman whether the Government intend to proceed with the line from Ballina to Belmullet in the County of Mayo? If it is the intention of the Government to 991 abandon the line, they should let the people know at once, because it is to the likelihood of work on this proposed line of railway that the people of the district are looking to save them from the consequences of the throatened potato famine?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI could certainly hold out no such expectation, with the funds at our command, that we could proceed with the line.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYWe have heard from the Attorney General for Ireland that it is the intention to give £244,600 to the Midland Railway Company in Ireland, and you are asking that the company shall be empowered to go on to the County of Galway, which is to contribute an additional £30,000. Now, this district is threatened with famine, and the consequences are likely to be very serious; and if this £30,000 is to be provided, I do hope that it will be equally divided between the owners and occupiers, and that the starving tenants will not have to pay the whole of that sum.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURAn additional grant of £30,000 is required for the locality, besides which the Railway Company itself has to spend £30,000, £40,000, or £50,000 to complete the line. Contributions under all these railway schemes are advanced by the locality.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYIs it not fair that the landlords who will have the benefit of this line should also have the privilege of paying for it, and that the whole burden should not fall upon the starving tenants?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURIf the hon. Gentleman asks me an abstract question as to whether I think the rates ought to be divided between the landlords and tenants in a particular county, I think he could hardly expect me to answer that now. There is no difference, obviously, between the guarantee of £30,000 in this case and the guarantee of £30,000 in the case of any other county for an analogous purpose. With regard to the special amount of £30,000, it has already been offered for a far worse line.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYThe Privy Council rejected the action of the Grand Jury on the petition of these people that they ought not to be called upon to pay. When the Bill comes on to-night we shall discuss how this rate is to be divided. I think the landlord should have the privilege of paying.