(NO. 85.) COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 17 July 1883)

§ LORD CARLINGFORD (LORD PRESIDENT of the COUNCIL)
said, he should not trouble the noble Lords who had Notices on the Paper relating to this measure to bring them before the House, as he was going to move that the Order be discharged. He much regretted being compelled to take that course, because, in spite of the objections made to the Bill on the second reading, he still held, and the Irish Government held, that it was a Bill which would have effected an important improvement in the management of Irish lunatics and the relief of distress. With these feelings, if the Government had seen any prospect of carrying the Bill through the other House during the present Session, he certainly would have endeavoured to persuade their Lordships to pass it, and have cast upon the House the responsibility of its rejection; but, believing that there was no reasonable prospect 1654 of carrying the Bill through the other House during the present Session, he would not put their Lordships to the trouble of proceeding further with the Bill. He therefore moved that the Order for going into Committee be discharged.

§ THE MARQUESS OF WATERFORD
, who had a Motion on the Paper for the rejection of the Bill, said, before the Bill was withdrawn he wished to say a few words. He hoped the fact that their Lordships had given a second reading to the Bill would not be looked upon next year as an endorsement of its principle, and as a reason why it should be passed next year. Since the Bill came before them he had had communications from Ireland, and found that the universal feeling was against the Bill in its present form. Nobody denied that these unfortunate people required looking after; but the people objected very much to the principle of the Bill, and he believed several Boards of Guardians had taken up the matter, and had sent protests against it to Her Majesty's Government. Another point which had been taken up in Ireland, and which he did not dwell upon when the Bill was read a second time, was that there were very great objections to the removal of the present Board of Governors, who had done their work extremely well, and the substitution for them of the Local Government Board, who did not, he believed, understand this particular class of work, and who already had enough work on their shoulders. He believed these Boards of Governors were the only Governing Bodies in Ireland who could carry on the work without going into questions of politics; and he believed there was the very strongest feeling against the substitution of the Local Government Board for a Board of gentlemen who had done their duty so well in the past. He was glad the Lord President had withdrawn the Bill, and he sincerely hoped that they would never see it again in their Lordships' House. He hoped a Bill would be introduced dealing with the subject, but dealing with it in a manner advised by the Report before their Lordships.

§ LORD CARLINGFORD (LORD PRESIDENT of the COUNCIL)
said, the noble Marquess was under a misapprehension. The Boards of Governors were not touched by the Bill in any way. The Central Authority under the Bill was the Local Government Board; but the Bill did not interfere with the Boards of Governors at all.