§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading, read.
§ LORD MACNAGHTENMy Lords, I have to ask you to allow this Bill, which has passed the House of Commons, to be read a second time. The object of the Bill is to amend the Deeds of Arrangement Act, 1887, so far as regards its application to Ireland. That Act applies to both England and Ireland, and provides for the registration of all Deeds of Arrangement between a debtor and his creditors in the Bills of Sale Office, and also in the Bankruptcy Court having jurisdiction. At the time when the Act was passed there were no local Courts of Bankruptcy in Ireland. That defect was remedied by an Act passed 1735 in 1888, which established local Courts in Cork and Belfast, and made provision for establishing local Bankruptcy Districts, as occasion might require. The object of this Bill is to provide, in the first place, for the local registration of Deeds of Arrangement in Ireland, and, in the second place, it provides for the registration of proposals of arrangement between a debtor and his creditors under the Irish Bankruptcy Act, 1857. That, my Lords, is the whole scope of the Bill. It involves no controversial matter; it has, I think, the support of all the Members from Ireland, whatever their political opinions may be; and it has, I believe, the good will of the Government. I move that the Bill be read a second time.
§ Bill read 2a (according to order), and committed to the Standing Committee for Bills relating to Law, &c.