§ Amendments reported (according to Order.)
§ LORD REDESDALEsaid, that as the measure then stood, although it contained a clause which extended its provisions to India and the Colonies, Ireland was not included. He begged to move, therefore, that the words "or Ireland" be inserted in the 5th clause, for the purpose of extending the jurisdiction of the Court to cases arising in that country.
§ LORD CRANWORTHsaid, he would offer no objection to the proposal as a temporary measure, but was of opinion that a distinct Bill should be introduced, applying the principles of the measure to Ireland.
LORD CAMPBELLsaid, that they should not be content with simply including Ireland in the provisions of this measure, but that they should establish a distinct Court for matrimonial causes in Ireland. In the meantime, however, the provisions of the present Bill should be made to extend to that country.
THE EARL OF WICKLOWsaid, he did not agree in the propriety of establishing a new court for Ireland, believing that as the majority of the people of Ireland were Roman Catholics, and could not therefore avail themselves of such a tribunal, it would be inoperative with respect to fourfifths of the population. Its advantages would in fact be confined entirely to the upper classes. He thought, therefore, it would be sufficient to adopt the Amendment proposed by Lord Redesdale
§ LORD REDESDALE, alluding to the operation of the new Divorce Court, said it had been prophesied that the proceedings in that Court would differ little from proceedings in similar cases in their Lordships' House; but that prophecy had not been fulfilled, for he saw by the papers of to-day that no less than nine unopposed petitions 2195 were granted at once to parties suing for a divorce. If this were so, he must say he thought that their Lordships had passed the Act creating the new court under a totally different impression with regard to what would be its probable effects, and that there could not be those safeguards against collusion which had been considered so essential when petitions for divorce had come before their Lordships' House.
LORD CAMPBELLsaid, that Chief Justice Cockburn presided in the Court on the occasion to which the noble Lord alluded; the cases had been most carefully sifted, and there was no ground whatever for suspecting that any collusion had been practised.
§ LORD CRANWORTHsaid, that when the new Court came into operation there were many cases of persons who were too poor to have recourse to the former expensive process, and these had been all brought forward at once. He believed that, after awhile, there would not be so many cases before the Court; though if unfortunately there should be, it would only go to show the great value and utility of the Act.
§ LORD REDESDALEdefied any Court to get through nine cases of that kind in a day and satisfy themselves that there was no collusion in them.
§ EARL GREYfeared that cases might arise in which there would be no parties sufficiently interested in sifting their merits to the bottom, and others in which it might be too much the interest of the parties to blind the court.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Further Amendments made; and Bill to be read 3a To-morrow.