IRISH MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS BILL.
On the 16th of February Lord Morpeth again moved for leave to bring in a bill for the regulation of municipal corporations in Ireland. It has been seen that the main point of dispute on this subject between the two houses was the amount of the franchise; the house of lords contending that it should be acquired by the occupation for twelve months of a tenement of the value of ten pounds, to be made up of the sum at which it was rated to the relief of the poor; and the house of commons, that the occupation of a tenement rated at the net annual value of eight pounds for six months should confer the qualification in question. It was proposed to retain this last franchise in the present measure; and the only material difference between the present and the former bill consisted in a provision which was now made for the eventual adoption of the English franchise. Lord Morpeth proposed that in whatever town, otherwise competent to receive such institutions, the poor-law act should have been in operation for three years, all persons resident for that period, and rated to any amount, should be entitled to vote for the election of municipal officers. The whole of schedule A, containing the towns in which corporations were to be established, remained the same; but with regard to schedule B, which enumerated those towns to which municipal institutions might be granted on petition of the inhabitants, it was proposed that, without the signatures of an absolute majority, the crown might establish corporations in those places as well as in any other town of three thousand inhabitants, in which there might be a number of persons occupying premises at not less than £4 per annum, sufficient to make up a constituency. On the second reading of the bill it met with a stern opposition of the conservative party; but it was eventually carried through by the small majority of twenty-six. The bill was committed pro-formâ on the 19th of April; but many delays took place in order that thirty-four clauses, which should have made part of the original measure, should be included. On the 4th of July, however, the house went into committee upon clause twenty, which referred to the value of the franchise. An attempt was made by Mr. Shaw to introduce a £10 qualification, which had been the ultimatum of the Conservatives in the last session: but after a short debate the original question was carried by one hundred and fifty-four against fifty-four. Some other minor amendments were subsequently proposed, but they were negatived; and the bill was finally carried in the commons by a majority of ninety-seven against seventy-six.
On the 22nd of July, the Irish Municipal Corporations bill was read a second time in the house of lords. On the 25th of July, before the house went into committee, Lord Lyndhurst gave notice of the amendments which he intended to move in the course of the evening, and of his intention to vote against the third reading, if the bill should come unaltered out of the committee. The only amendment of the noble lord which gave rise to any discussion after their lordships went into committee was for raising the qualification from £8 to £10. This was objected to by Lord Melbourne, who said, that he could not but think that their lordships were acting no very worthy part, in raising difficulties in the way of what they all considered desirable—the settlement of the question. The Duke of Wellington administered a severe rebuke to his lordship for uttering such a sentiment; and on a division the amendment was carried by a majority of ninety-three against forty-three. A number of minor amendments were also made in conformity with Lord Lyndhurst’s suggestions; and on the 5th of August the bill was read a third time, and passed.
Lord John Russell moved the order of the day, for the consideration of the lords’ amendments, on the 12th of August; on which occasion he stated that it was not advisable, in his opinion, to take objection to the bill on the question of privilege, on account of certain clauses transferring certain fiscal powers from the grand-juries to the new town-councils, which had been struck out in the other house, and to send it back to the lords. The only course to pursue would be to bring in a new bill either now or at the beginning of the next session. He moved, therefore, that the amendments be taken into consideration that day three months, in the hope that he might be able finally to adjust the question. This motion was agreed to.
On the 6th of August Lord Brougham brought forward several resolutions on the administration of justice in Ireland under the Marquis of Normanby. His lordship’s remarks were chiefly confined to Lord Normanby’s public measures; and the debate in general was conducted in a tone friendly to the noble marquis, even by the opposite party. At the same time the resolutions were carried by a majority of eighty-six against fifty-two.