§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading read.
§ DR. TANNER (Cork Co., Mid)I object.
§ MR. L. H. COURTNEY (Cornwall, Bodmin)I shall be glad if the House will allow this Bill to be read a second time. It is a purely permissive and experimental Bill. Those honourable Members who have done me the honour of reading the Memorandum attached to the Bill will see that it proposes to allow the adoption, under due safeguards, of the method of the single transferable vote instead of the cumulative vote. It is a mere experiment, and the Bill provides that if the new method is proved to be unsatisfactory the old system of cumulative voting can be re-adopted. The Bill is only permissive, and it cannot come into operation unless with the assent of at least two-thirds of the members of a School Board. I hope the honourable Gentleman opposite will withdraw his objection.
§ DR. TANNERAny words coming from the right honourable Gentleman always obtain a hearing on this side of the House, especially from Irish representatives. But, seeing that we can make so little progress with measures which we regard as essential in the interests of Ireland, I conceive that it is my duty—my stern duty—to persist in my objections.
§ Second Reading deferred.