§ On the Order for the Third Reading of this Bill,
§ COLONEL NOLAN (Galway, N.)said, the Bill provided for the transfer to the Government Departments of the large sum of £11,000,000 sterling, and he observed that the Preamble stated that that money was "cheerfully" granted to Her Majesty for the different Services. As an Irish Member he did 131 not "cheerfully" grant this money, because he considered that the granting of it embodied a certain amount of wrong to his country. As an Irish Member he looked with great regret on this large sum of money being spent in the way it was spent. He was not disposed to be grateful to Her Majesty's Government for such a small grant as £35,000. He considered the sum too small to be thankful for. Generally, when money was voted for Ireland he had supported it and said "thank you," even to Governments which he might have been opposing, but when it came to a miserable sum of £35,000 to relieve such a large amount of distress, he was afraid he could not bring himself to thank the Government for the very small mercy extended to them. He believed that about £9,000,000 was annually collected in Ireland, and out of this £11,000,000 Ireland paid £1,100,000, and this was when they wanted their money at home. Under the circumstances he thought they were entitled to raise some objection. There was a large increase last year in the Navy Estimates, a large increase this year, and there was every probability that there would be a large increase next year, and for four or five years to come. He must say that in Ireland they got very little out of it. Except Cork, there was no town in Ireland which was in the slightest degree fortified against the attack of any foreign naval power. They were not protected in Ireland. He did not know that any country would select Ireland as a point of attack, or attempt to ravage its coasts. He thought if not England, it would be the Colonies which would be attacked; therefore, Ireland was not likely to get much benefit from this expenditure. In England, however, it was different. Employment was provided for an immense number of labourers and artisans, and the money was transferred from the pockets of the taxpayers to that of the workmen. Nothing of the kind took place in Ireland. 132 He further argued that the taxation had been specially increased in Ireland last year, which was an additional reason why he should protest against the great expenditure of this year. This attitude he was constrained to adopt until something was done in Ireland, either to build dockyards for the construction of ships or manufactories for stores. He indicated that Cork or Galway would be suitable places, and either of them would be probably better situated than some of the present dockyard sites in this country. For the past century or two it had been the policy of this country to do nothing for Ireland in this respect, though it was recognised that Ireland contributed a great deal towards the Exchequer. In his judgment the policy of concentrating the manufacture of warlike stores in England was most detrimental to the industrial prospects of Ireland.
§ *MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTONagreed with the hon. Member so far that he hoped a considerable portion of this £11,000,000 to be spent on the Navy would be expended in Ireland. If there was any shipbuilding establishment in the world which was entitled to receive some money of the British Government for Naval purposes he ventured to say that it was the firm of Harland and Wolff, who had done so much for the maintenance of British prestige in all quarters of the world. He commended to Her Majesty's Government the desirability of expending some of the money in Belfast, where the work would be done as well as it could possibly be done in any part of the United Kingdom. He did not agree at all with the hon. and gallant Member that Ireland did not appreciate the Navy. At all events they did so in Ulster and the North of Ireland.
§ MR. W. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)said, that the late Prime Minister promised that he would consider the advisability of establishing a Board of Agriculture for Ireland, but although he had several times asked questions on the 133 subject lately, not the slightest notice had been taken of them.
§ *MR. SPEAKERI do not think that comes within the Estimates included in this Bill.
§ MR. FIELDsaid, there were, perhaps, other things that did come under those Estimates. The expenditure for war material in Ireland was quite inadequate. The Navy contracts, at all events, did come under this Bill, though it was very difficult to know what the Bill did cover. It was drawn in such a way that it was impossible, unless one was an old hand, to know what it did cover and what it did not. He declared as an Irish Member that Irishmen did not obtain anything like a just share of the Naval and Military expenditure covered by the Bill, and he desired to enter his emphatic protest against that. Taxation was never felt so much by a population where the money returned directly through the medium of the working classes; but nearly all the taxation levied in Ireland was expended in England or Scotland.
§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)desired to enter his strong protest against the very unfair treatment accorded by the Admiralty to Haulbowline, their only Irish dockyard. Since the present Government came into Office, Naval expenditure had increased by 4½ millions, and enormous sums had been, and were about to be, expended in British dockyards, while Haulbowline had not received a penny.
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! The Bill deals not with works, but with wages and men.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANsaid he would enter a protest against the uncalled for cruel and wanton dismissal of Irish workmen from Haulbowline during the past winter, when severe distress prevailed at Queenstown, without any notice, practically, having been given to the unfortunate men. He had appealed in vain to the Civil Lord of the Admiralty to remedy this grievance.
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! This is quite irregular. The remarks of the hon. Gentleman have no reference to the subject of the Bill.
§ Bill read 3o.