§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading, read.
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDON,in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, there had been for some time in Ireland considerable difference of opinion on the Poor Law rating as to its chargeability. Some persons held that the proper mode of rating was by a general Union rate, while others were equally confident that the rating should be on the electoral division. A Committee on the subject sat in the other House of Parliament, and the Members of it were so evenly balanced in opinion that the Report was, he believed, only passed by the easting vote of the Chairman. This Bill, of which he now moved the second reading, might be considered as a compromise between the two extreme opinions upon the subject, and it made the chargeability of a pauper to the electoral division dependent on a residence of four years instead of two, and that there should be a six instead of a twelve months' notice.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Lord President.)
§ Motion agreed to.
§ Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday next.