§ 1. "That a sum, not exceeding £2,771, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of Hatch 1897, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Household of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland."
§ MR. DILLONsaid, considerable Debate took place on this Vote in Committee, and therefore he desired now to call attention to two points only. He wished to know whether the Government could give them any undertaking that they would introduce a Measure to remove the religious disability which attached to the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It was an insult to a country like Ireland that the Lord Lieutenant should be obliged to be a member of a particular religious persuasion, a persuasion which was not that of the vast majority of the Irish people. Why a Catholic was allowed to represent Her Majesty in India and in other parts of the world and not in Ireland he could not understand. It was an intolerable state of things. From a Nationalist point of view he did not care whether the Government sent a Catholic or Protestant to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but from a Unionist point of view he thought no opportunity of amending the law ought to be lost. A second point he wished to raise had 1358 reference to the salary of the Lord Lieutenant being placed on the Consolidated Fund.
§ *MR. SPEAKERThere is no Vote for the salary of the Lord Lieutenant, and therefore the hon. Gentleman will not be in order in discussing that point.
§ MR. DILLONsaid he might be permitted to express the hope that, especially as the salary of the Lord Lieutenant was withdrawn from the consideration of the House, that gentleman might not in future be a party hack.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds, Central)thought it would be quite apparent to the House why he did not reply on Friday to the two points mentioned by the hon. Member. He would not have been in Order in referring to the salary of the Lord Lieutenant or as to the law requiring the Lord Lieutenant to be a member of the Protestant religion. The Vote taken on Friday had reference to the chaplains of the Lord Lieutenant, and the larger question as to whether the Lord Lieutenant ought not to be eligible among Catholics- as well as Protestants did not arise under the Vote.
§ Resolution agreed to.
§ 2. "That a sum, not exceeding £1,181, he granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1897, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland."
§ 3. "That a sum, not exceeding £113,458, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1897, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Local Government Board in Ireland, including certain Grants in Aid of Local Taxation."
§ 4. "That a sum, not exceeding £3,566, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1897, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Public Record Office in Ireland, and of the Keeper of State Papers in Dublin."
§ 5. "That a sum, not exceeding £10,280, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1897, for the Salaries and Expenses in the Department of the Registrar 1359 General of Births, etc., and the Expenses of Collecting Agricultural and other Statistics in Ireland."
§ 6. "That a sum, not exceeding £6,316, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1897, for the Salaries and Expenses of the General Valuation and Boundary Survey of Ireland."
§ Resolutions agreed to.