§ Order read for resuming Adjourned Debate on Question [9th July] "That the Bill to be now read a second time.
§ Question again proposed.
§ MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)said that when the Bill was before the House on a previous occasion, on account of the partisan manner in which the directors applied their patronage, and to the fact that they applied religious tests to appointments, the House affirmed the principle that the railway companies were the servants and not the masters of the public, and that the company were making improper use of the powers conferred upon them. He was glad to say, however, that the Board of Trade had effected a compromise by which the company had agreed that there should be no partisanship in the selection of employees and no religious tests, so that, while allowing the Bill to pass, it was with the hope that the directors of the company would in the future use the powers conferred upon them in such a manner that when the measure came back to the House again it would find 310 the Nationalist Members not enemies to it, but friends.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
§ Bill read a second time, and committed.