HOME RULE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 1 June 1914, Page 3

HOME RULE.

THE THREE BILLS. It is just over 28 years 6ince Mr Gladstone introduced his first Home Rule Bill into Parliament. On April Bth, 1886, he introduced a measure which was described by Lord Randolph Churchill as "a complicated, inextricable, and multitudinous mass of contradictions and absurdities." On May 10th the Bill came on for second reading, and its rejection was moved by the Marquis of Hartington. A division was taken on June 7fch, and the Bill was thrown out by 343 votes to 313, 93 Liberals voting against the measure, while eight more absented themselves from the division.

Under this measure the Irish Parliament was to be a sin^e legislative body composed of two "Orders," the first consisting of seventy-five members elected for ten years "by electoral districts, and twenty-eight peers holding office for thirty years; and the second of 204 members returned by existing constituencies. This Parliament was to have the right of imposing taxes other than Customs and excise duties., and the Royal Irish Constabulary were to be paid for by the Imperial Government, with a contribution from Ireland of a million a year. Ireland was to have no representation whatever in the Imperial Parliament, either in Lords or Commons.

At. the General Election of 1892 there were returned 273 Liberate, 81 Nationalists, and 315 Unionists, the separatist coalition thus having a majority of 40. On February 13, 1893, the second Home Rule Bill was introduced by Mr Gladstone. Under this" measure the Irish Legislature was to be composed of two separate Houses, first, a Legislative Council of forty-eight' members, elected for eight years on a special register; and secondly a Legislative Assembly of 103 members, returned by the existing constituencies. Eighty Irish members were to be retained in the Imperial Parliament. Under the Bill as introduced they were to vote only when matter's in which Ireland was concerned were under discussion, though in 1886 Mr Gladstone had declared that it "passed the wit of man" to devise a scheme by which such a distinction could be carried out. While the Bill was in Committee/ however, the Government abandoned the "in-and-out" principle, and amendment was carried by which the eighty Irish members were left free to vote on all questions. For six years taxes were to be imposed and regulated by the Imperial "Parliament, after that the rights of taxation, with certain exceptions as to Customs and excise, were to be transferred to the Irish Parliament, and the contribution of Ireland to the Imperial Exchequer was then to be revised.

On April 22 the second reading was carried by 347 votes to 304, and, the Committee stage having been got through by the use of the "guillotine," the Bill passed the Commons on September 1 by a majority of 34. On the same day the measure was taken up to the House of Lords, and on September 8. on the motion of the Duke of Devonshire, it was thrown out by 419 votes to 41.'

The third Home Rule measure—the Bill now before Parliament—was introduced into the Commons by , Mr Asquith on April 11, 1912 j when the first reading; was challenged by the Unionists, and carried by 360 votes to 266. It was read a second time on May 9 by 372 votes to 271. and finally passed the Commons on January 16, 1913, by, 367 votes to 257. On January 30 it was rejected by the House of Lords by 326 votes against 69.

In the session of 1913 the measure was reintroduced under the Parliament Act, carried through the House of Commons without the change of even a comma, and again thrown out by the House of Lords, this time by 302 votes to 64.

Under this measure the Irish Parliament is to consist of two Houses:

(1) A Senate of forty members, in the first instance nominated by the Imperial Government for five years, and afterwards selected by a system of proportional representation; and (2) A Hoxise of Commons of 164 members, elected, first, by. the constituencies named in a schedule to the Bill, and afterwards as the Irish Parliament may provide, having due regard to the population of the constituencies.

Forty-two representatives of Ireland are to b© retained in the Imperial Parliament. Under this, as under both the. previous Home Rule Bilk, Ireland is to have a Ministry of its own. on whose advice the Lord Lieutenant, as representing; the Crown, will act. The Irish Parliament may increase or reduce the taxes imposed by the Imperial Parliament, (except certain stamp duties), and may levy any new tax except Customs. Under the financial provisions it is estimated that if the fiill had been passed by the Lord 6 in January. 1913. the taxpayers of Great Britain would last year have had to make good to the Irish Exchequer a deficit of nearly £2,000,000. Early in the present session the Bill was brought in for the third tirae, and under the operation of the Parliament Act it will now become law, even if rejected by the House of Lords.