§ THE EARL OF GRANARDThe other Bill which will be in my name is the Constabulary and Police (Ireland) Bill. This measure is the outcome of the recommendations of a Committee which sat in Dublin some time ago. That Committee recommended that the pay of the Constabulary and Police should be increased, and perhaps I may be permitted to read an extract from their Report. The Committee stated—
If it is desired to maintain the present high standard of physique and intelligence of the Royal Irish Constabulary and to continue to recruit it from the class from which its members have hitherto been drawn, it will be necessary substantially to improve the pay of the force.This Bill carries out this recommendation of the Committee. It increases the pay of all ranks of the Constabulary in Ireland. It also gives power to grant gratuities to widows of Police officers, and there are in the Bill other matters of importance to the Police force of that country. I shall therefore venture to ask your Lordships, when the Bill comes up front another place, to pass it through all its stages to-day.