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The Licence Duty payable for a dog licence under the Dogs Regulation (Ireland) Act, 1866 (in this Act referred to as the "principal Act"), shall be at such rate, not exceeding six shillings for each dog, as may be prescribed by Regulations of the Lord Lieutenant under this Act.
§ The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND (Mr. Denis Henry)I beg to move, to leave out all the words after "at" ["shall be at"], and to insert instead thereof the words "the rate of four shillings instead of two shillings for each dog."
The object of this short Bill is to meet representations which have been made to the Irish Government by philanthropists and representatives of the agricultural community from all parts of Ireland. It proposes to raise the tax from 2s. to 4s. In England the tax is 7s. 6d. In the Bill we had provided for power to raise it to 6s., but representations were made by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Down (Mr. MacVeagh) and others, a I agreed to accept the sum of 4s.—hence my Amendment. It was in 1865 that Sir Robert Peel, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, introduced a Bill to put this tax on for the first time in Ireland, and the receipts went in payment of the Petty Sessions clerks who acted as collectors first, the balance going to the local authorities. No change is now proposed in that respect. I may explain that representations came to us from the General Council of Agriculture because of the considerable losses inflicted on farmers by sheep and lamb worrying; they also came from county councils and other bodies, and I think it will be admitted that it is a most unreasonable fax.
§ Mr. EDWARD KELLYIt would have been impossible, Sir, to choose a Chairman who would be more opposed to increasing the burdens on the owners of dogs and on the dogs themselves, than 1768 yourself. I have watched you with great interest from the commencement of the Attorney-General's remarks, and I have failed to see the slightest gleam of sympathy from your eyes, or the slightest sign that you had any sympathy with the additional burden which was to be imposed, not only on the dogs, but on the owners of the dogs. When I fail to find that sympathy from you shall I look for it from any of those hon. Members who, again and again have opposed you in some of your most cherished schemes for the amelioration of the lot of our canine friends? Therefore I give it up as a bad job. I had an Amendment under which I hoped to confine the duty on Irish dogs to 2s. 7d., but I have come to the conclusion that our dogs, like everything else, are going to cost us more, and that we might as well make the best of a bad job and get off as lightly as we can. I am the more reconciled to accepting the Amendment of the Attorney-General when he explains that it is necessary for us in Ireland to keep dogs in order to pay our Petty Sessions clerks. That is an anomaly equalled only by another anomaly by which an Irishman had to drink a lot of Irish whisky in order to pay for secondary education. As the force of all those arguments oppresses me so strongly, and the Attorney-General has such a persuasive way, it is really very hard to oppose any Amendment or proposal he makes to the Committee. Therefore I shall not move my Amendment.
§ Mr. LYNNIf the hon. and learned Gentleman (Mr. Kelly) had arranged to bring the dogs over here to keep us awake, I would join with him in keeping the tax at 2s., but, as he cannot do that, I must support the Attorney-General, as the tax is not by any means exorbitant.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clauses 2 (Amendment of Sections 6 and 20 of Principal Act as to the Taking Out and Duration of Licences,) 3 (Regulations), and 4 (Interpretation, Construction, and Citation) ordered to stand part of the Bill.