CLAUSE 1.—(Continuance of Acts in Schedule.) (Hansard, 1 August 1916)

Mr. HAZLETON
I would make an appeal to the Government not to go on with the further Orders on the Paper now. It will be in the recollection of the House that my hon. Friend the Member for East Mayo made an appeal to the Prime Minister not to take the Consolidated Fund Bill to-day, in view of the fact that there were two or three other Orders on the Paper. The Prime Minister met my hon. Friend in a very reasonable spirit. He said that if my hon. Friend pressed his objection he would not take the Consolidated Fund Bill to-day—

§ Mr. GULLAND (Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury)
No. The Prime Minister did not say that. He said the Special Commissions Bill.

Mr. HAZLETON
That is so, and on the assurance of the Prime Minister that the 257 Special Commissions Bill would only take about an hour my hon. Friend withdrew his objection. As a matter of fact, instead of it taking an hour, the Special Commissions Bill took well over three hours, and I think the Government might very well be satisfied with the progress they have made to-day, and defer these further Orders at this hour of the morning until the next sitting. Therefore, I think I would be only acting in what Members would consider a reasonable spirit if I moved, Mr. Maclean, that you do report Progress, and ask leave to sit again.

§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. McKinnon Wood)
I appeal to the hon. Member to allow us to make some progress with these small Bills. As usual, there are a certain number of small Bills which have to be gone through at the end of the Session. This is not a contentious measure. I am sure my hon. Frend will admit that we have had a very long discussion and that we have not been lacking in patience with regard to that discussion. I hope he will allow us to take these Orders, which are not contentious, and make some progress at this late part of the Session with these Bills.

§ Mr. FLAVIN
Does the right hon. Gentleman know what the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill comprises? Has he seen the Bill? I have before me a copy of the Bill which has been introduced by the Secretary to the Treasury, and, from a casual observation, I find that it comprises at least twenty or thirty Bills, some of which are not only controversial but are obnoxious to us Irishmen. There is one Bill, for instance, the Glebe Lands (Ireland) Purchase Bill of 1870, and this Expiring Laws Continuance Bill makes provision for the continuance of that Bill in operation. Does the right hon. Gentleman know anything about the working of that Bill in connection with land purchase in Ireland? And is he aware that there are between 10,000 and 15,000 tenants who bought under that Bill?

The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN
The hon. Member is now arguing questions which relate to the Bill itself. It is not out of order to say that there are controversial things in the Bill, but he must not go into detail.

§ Mr. FLAVIN
I do not want to go into details at all, but I want to know from the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware of the number of Bills which are renewed by the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill that affect Ireland? I was surprised to hear his statement that Bills contained in the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill were not of a controversial character. I can remember that Bills have been included which in the past have excited a great deal of discussion. His statement shows that, after all, Ministers have very little knowledge as to whether Bills relating to Ireland are or are not of a controversial character. I must tell the right hon. Gentleman that if we are not to report Progress now, I shall certainly feel it my duty to raise a discussion on several of these Bills.

§ The DEPUTY-CHAIRMAN (Mr. Maclean)
The hon. Member is apparently going to carry his intention into effect on this Motion. We had better wait until we arrive at the Bills to which he refers.

§ Mr. FLAVIN
Very well.

Mr. HAZLETON
As the right hon. Gentleman has made an appeal to me, I think I ought to meet him in a reasonable spirit. I do not know how far my hon. Friends intend to take exception to the Bills contained in this measure which the Government now wish to press forward. Our ground of objection is to going on with them at this hour of the morning. There is no hurry at all, and the right hon. Gentleman was quite mistaken in saying that at this late period of the Session we ought to allow the Government to take Bills of this nature at four o'clock in the morning. We are not within sight of the end of the Session. The Prime Minister told us that after the 17th or 19th of this month the House was to adjourn for six weeks' holiday, and that we were then to come back and resume the Session. In view of this fact I would appeal to the Government not to press measures at this hour.

§ Mr. MCKINNON WOOD
The Bill to which my hon. Friend has drawn attention cannot be a Bill of so highly controversial a character as he gave the Committee to-understand, because it has been passed by this House year after year for nearly half a century. It is a Bill which dates from 1870, and I think the importance of stopping that Bill to-night cannot be so 259 great as in the first heat of argument my hon. Friend suggested. I suggest that we might, at least, take the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill to-night—we have made no progress at all with these little Bills tonight—and I will agree not to take the other Bills on the Order Paper if this Bill is allowed to go through.

§ Mr. FLAVIN
The intervention of the right hon. Gentleman in the Debate only supplies further evidence of the want of knowledge on the Treasury Bench of Irish legislation. Will the right hon. Gentleman show me any legislation that has ever been passed for Ireland in connection with land purchase, outside the Glebe Land Purchase Act, where the Tenant never becomes the owner in fee of his property? I know tenants under the Glebe Purchase