HC Deb 14 May 1903 vol 122 cc763-6

[SECOND READING.]

Order for Second Reading read.

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time."

Debate arising.

MR. O'DOWD (Sligo, S.)

said he understood with regard to this Bill that some arrangement for a final settlement had been entered into. He had a Motion on the Paper that the Bill should be read a second time this day six months, but all he wished now was that the Bill should be postponed until Monday next in order to see what the terms of settlement were.

MR. CARVILL (Newry)

said all the objections to the Bill had been completely met, but if the hon. Member for South Sligo desired to have the matter postponed until Monday he would not stand in the way, but he considered it would be a great waste of time, and that no useful object would be served.

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.

said he hoped the hon. Member for Sligo would not persist in his attempt to postpone the Second Reading of this Bill. As it had been amended all it asked for was Parliamentary powers to extend this railway. By the Amendments it had been so narrowed down that the Bill only gave the railway company an extension of time to exercise powers which had already been granted to them. Under the circumstances he asked the hon. Member not to persist, and pointed out that if the Bill was postponed it might never come on again.

MR. JOHN REDMOND (Waterford)

said he could not understand the last observation of the right hon. Gentleman opposite that the Bill might never come on again if it were postponed until Monday. He himself was in favour of the Bill, and therefore must not be taken as speaking against it. So far as he understood the position, his hon. friend the Member for Sligo, before expressing himself satisfied with the concessions that had been made in the Bill, desired to communicate with those he represented. That was a perfectly reasonable position to take up, and in order to do that he desired to have the Second Reading postponed until Monday, when the matter could finally be dealt with.

MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)

said he failed to see any reason for the postponement of the Bill. As altered it did not affect Sligo in any way whatever. It merely extended for three years the time in which to make a railway in the North of Ireland which the Company had already powers to construct. The rest of the Bill had been dropped. The Bill had been postponed time after time, and if postponed again it might be too late to do anything with it.

MR. O'DOWD

said he did not oppose the Second Reading in any captious spirit. He represented Sligo and Connaught generally in this matter, and all he desired was to see the terms of the final settlement. There were always two parties to an arbitration and he failed to see why he had not been consulted.

COLONEL MCCALMONT (Antrim, E.)

said so far as the North of Ireland was concerned all their objections had been dealt with.

MR. CARVILL

, by permission of the House, read the following letter from Mr. Kennedy, the Parliamentary agent for the Bill:— I am instructed by the promoters of this Bill to inform you that following on an interview with the Treasury this morning they have undertaken to strike out from the Bill in Committee all the new railways proposed to be authorised thereby, together with the provisions which sought to sanction a grant and loan by the Treasury from public funds towards the cost of construction of these railways. He said on behalf of the promoters he would repeat the undertaking embodied in that letter, and thus, he thought, remove all objections to the Second Reading of this Bill.

MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)

said he did not know whether it was agreed that this debate should be postponed or not, and therefore he would move that the debate be adjourned. Hon. Members opposite stated that they were satisfied with the understanding. That conveyed to him the fact that they had been treated in a privileged way in this matter, and had seen a copy of the document containing the conditions of the arrangement. He would have supposed under the circumstances that the hon. Member for Newry would have had the courtesy to send the hon. Member for Sligo—who it was notorious took great interest in this matter—a copy also. He had been long enough in the House to have serious doubts with regard to statements made by promoters of the Bill. He liked to see these things in black and white. It was only right that his hon. friend the Member for Sligo should have this document in his possession for a couple of days in order that he might consult his constituents upon it.

Motion made, and Question, "That the Debate be now adjourned"—(Mr. Patrick O'Brien.)

Put, and agreed to.

Debate to be resumed upon Thursday next (Evening Sitting).