to such amount as the Joint Exchequer Board might approve, should, so far as not met by fees paid to, or other receipts of, the Council, be apportioned between Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland, as the Joint Exchequer Board might determine, and the amount so apportioned should be charged on, and paid out of, the consolidated funds of Southern and Northern Ireland respectively. In the course of discussion, MAJOR BARNES said the amendment went perilously near divorcing taxation from representation. The amendment was agreed to.

Clause 10, as amended, was (June 14th) added to the Bill.

Summoning, &c., of Irish Parliaments.

Clause 11 (which makes provision for the summoning, proroguing and dissolving of the Irish Parliaments) was (June 15th) agreed to.

Royal Assent to Bills.

Clause 12 (which relates to the Royal Assent to Bills) was (June 15th) added to the Bill.

Constitution of the Parliaments.

On Clause 13 (which regulates the constitution of the Irish Parliaments),

LT.-COL. GUINNESS moved (June 15th) an amendment that the House of Commons of Southern Ireland should consist of 145 members instead of 128 members as provided in the Bill. He argued that the extension might enable the minority to obtain more adequate Parliamentary representation.

MR. LONG said the Government had every desire to see the minority fairly represented in the Southern Parliament. They had, he added, placed on the paper two new clauses, one of which dealt with the condition of things which might be found in Ireland when the Bill came into operation. They there proposed that in certain circumstances very definite steps should be taken, and they believed that they would afford the best protection against a Parliament elected to defy constitutionalism, the Crown and authority, and generally to run amok. He could not help thinking the best course for the minority to adopt in Ireland was to rely on the protection which they would get from a specially constituted Second Chamber. The Government had undertaken that the amendment setting up that Chamber should appear on the paper before the Report stage.

In the course of discussion MAJOR BARNES and CAPTAIN ELLIOT (Co. U.) urged the Government to consider the position of the minority in the North as well as in the South of Ireland.

The amendment was withdrawn in view of the Government promise to reconsider the question.

Mr. MOLES (Co. U.) moved (June 15th) an amendment the effect of which, he said, was to get rid of proportional representation.

CAPTAIN C. CRAIG (Co. U.) declared that they hated Proportional Representation in the North of Ireland, and when they got the chance they would revert to the old system.

SIR DONALD MACLEAN, opposing the amendment, expressed the hope that in the next General Election there would either be P.R. or the Alternative Vote. He said that in Scotland the operation of P.R. had been entirely satisfactory.

MR. A. WILLIAMS maintained that every party in Ireland approved P.R. except the dominant party in Ulster.

was

SIR L. WORTHINGTON-EVANS pointed out that P.R. introduced into the Bill as one of the safeguards which were intended to protect minorities, and that at the end of three years it would be in the power of both or either of the Parliaments to scrap the system and revert to the old method, or to invent an altogether new system.

The amendment was withdrawn.

LT.-COL. GUINNESS moved (June 15th) an amendment to substitute ten years for three years as the period after the day of the first meeting of the new Parliaments when the Parliament might alter the qualification and registration of the electors, the law relating to elections, the constituencies and the distribution of seats.

MR. LONG replied that the Government considered ten years as a most unreasonable period for which to tie the hands of the new Parliaments. He afterwards announced that the Government were quite willing to consider before Report the introduction of words which would secure that a new Parliament should be elected in order that the views of the country should be heard before any change was made in the Constitution.

The amendment was thereupon withdrawn.

LT.-COL. GUINNESS moved (June 15th) to insert words to prevent the Parliaments from depriving any university of its representation, and so making the representation of universities a permanency in Ireland.

The amendment, which was opposed by the Government, was negatived.

Clause 13 was (June 15th) added to the Bill.

Application of Election Laws.

Clause 14 (which provides that all existing election laws relating to the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom should, subject to the provisions of this Act, extend to the Irish Parliaments) was (June 15th) agreed to.

Money Bills.

Clause 15 (which relates to money bills) was (June 15th) added to the Bill.

Privileges, &c., of Members of the Parliaments. Clause 16 (which refers to the privileges, qualifications, &c., of members of the Parliaments) was (June 15th) agreed to, with some amendment.

Irish Representation at Westminster.

On Clause 17 (which deals with the representation of Ireland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom),

SIR S. HOARE (Co. U.) moved (June 22nd) an amendment to provide that after the date of the union of the two Irish local Parliaments, Irish representation at Westminster should cease altogether. His point was that when the union took place and Ireland had the management of her own affairs it would be an anomaly that Irish members should have the right to interfere in British local affairs, while English, Scottish and Welsh members had no control over Irish affairs.

MR. LONG announced that the Government would resist the amendment. He could imagine nothing more retrograde or more unfortunate, he said, than that by any scheme of devolution Irish representatives should be cut off entirely from that House. Even if the reserved powers were transferred to a united Irish Government, that could not be described accurately as a Dominion Government as long as the Imperial Parliament retained the control of the armed forces of the Crown.

In the course of the discussion, in which it was urged that the Bill was futile and incapable of doing anything to solve the Irish question, SIR DONALD MACLEAN announced that he would vote for the amendment, not to oppose the Government but to show how deeply he appreciated the spirit in which the amendment's supporters regarded the Irish problem.

Finally the amendment was defeated by 229 votes to 35.

LT.-COL. GUINNESS (Co. U.) moved (June 22nd) an amendment to provide that the number of Irish members to serve in the Parlia ment of the United Kingdom should be 46 instead of 42, in order. that it might be possible to retain the four members for the Irish Universities at Westminster.

MR. LONG accepted the amendment, which was accordingly agreed to.

SIR L. WORTHINGTON-EVANS moved to omit from sub-section (b) the power of the Southern and Northern Parliaments to deal with any officers concerned with the issue of writs of election.

This was agreed to.

Clause 17 was (June 22nd) added to the Bill, as amended.

Financial Clauses.

Clauses 18 to 34, which deal with finance, were postponed.

Lord Lieutenant.

Clause 35 (which relates to the office of the Lord Lieutenant) was (June 22nd) added to the Bill without amendment.

Courts of Law.

On Clause 36 (which establishes two Supreme Courts of Judicature, one for Southern and one for Northern Ireland, and a High Court of Appeal for Ireland),

LORD R. CECIL opposed the proposal on the grounds that the erection of an enormously costly double judiciary in Ireland was undesirable, and that it would tend to perpetuate division between North and South. He moved the omission of the clause.

SIR D. MACLEAN, in the course of debate, expressed the hope that there would be a division as a protest against the breaking up of the Irish judiciary, and the creating of an irritant that would

make for disunion.

Clause 36 was added to the Bill by 181 votes to 29, majority 152. Other clauses up to Clause 50, which contain provisions as to Courts of Law and Judges, were agreed to with some Government amendments, with the exception that Clause 40 (which relates to the constitution and officers of the High Court of Appeal for Ireland) was postponed.

The Civil Service.

On Clause 52 (which relates to continuation of service of, and compensation to, existing officers),

MAJOR O'NEILL (Co. U.) moved (June 28th) an amendment to ensure that the Irish Insurance Commissioners should be entitled to all the rights and privileges of established Civil Servants, including the right to pensions and compensation.

The amendment was, after some discussion, agreed to.

The Clause, as amended, was (June 28th) ordered to stand part of the Bill.

On Clause 53 (which deals with the establishment of the Civil Service Committee),

SIR L. WORTHINGTON-EVANS moved an amendment to provide that the Civil Servants might have two representatives on that Committee.

The amendment was accepted, and

The Clause was, as altered (June 28th), agreed to.

On Clause 56 (which relates to the allocation of existing Civil Servants between Southern and Northern Ireland),

MAJOR O'NEILL moved (June 28th) an amendment to sub-section 2 with the object of securing that the Governments of the North and of the South should have the final voice in the selection of the Civil Servants to be allocated to them.

The amendment was defeated, and

The Clause was (June 28th) added to the Bill.

The Police.

Clause 57 (which refers to continuation of service of, and compensation to, members of the police force) was postponed.

Promotion in the Civil Service.

Clause 60 (which relates to the question of promotion in the Civil Service) was (June 28th) omitted on the suggestion of the Government representative.

Arrangements between Departments.

On Clause 61 (which deals with the making of arrangements between the Government Departments),

MR. D. M. WILSON (Co. U.) moved (June 28th) to extend the Clause to the officers of the Council of Ireland.

This was agreed to, and

The Clause, as amended, was (June 28th) agreed to.

Finance of Irish Universities.

On Clause 62 (which contains special provisions as to Irish Universities),

SIR W. WHITLA (Co. U.) moved (June 28th) an amendment with the object of increasing the annual payment to the Queen's University from £18,000 to £28,000.

MR. FISHER agreed, on behalf of the Government, to the substitution of £26,000 for £18,000, and the amendment was withdrawn. The Clause was (June 28th) added to the Bill.

Irish Transfer Orders.

On the question that Clause 63 (power to make Irish Transfer Orders) be agreed to,

CAPTAIN W. BENN complained (June 28th) that several Clauses had been carried without any explanation being given by Ministers. It did not, he said, matter to him, because he thought the Bill was a farce and would never come into operation, but he thought the Government were wanting in respect to the House.

MR. LONG, replying, said Ministers had no intention of being disrespectful. As to this Clause, there was nothing novel or unusual in it that called for explanation.

SIR D. MACLEAN thought Captain Benn was entitled to ask what the Government had to say in regard to the Clause. If the Government did not choose to answer, so much the worse for the Government.

SIR E. CARSON protested against its being constantly said that the Bill was not meant to become law and was a farce.

The Clause was (June 28th) agreed to.

Commencement of the Act.

On Clause 67 (commencement of Act, and appointed day), SIR J. BUTCHER (Co. U.) moved an amendment to empower the Lord-Lieutenant, if, having regard to the condition of the country in respect of law and order, he should so think fit, to postpone by