It is usual on the opening day of our proceedings to allow any Senator who has not yet qualified by taking the Oath to do so. I understand that a Senator recently elected cannot be present at the opening of the sitting, but hopes to be here later on, and I, therefore, propose to adjourn that matter, so that he may have the opportunity of taking the Oath, if convenient for him to attend later to-day. Now the first matter upon the Agenda is the Second and Third Stages of the District Justices (Temporary Provisions) Bill. I might mention, as there seems to be some misunderstanding about that, that this Bill is purely a temporary Bill, that it does not propose the permanent appointment of any of the officials mentioned in it, that it is entitled "An Act to make temporary provision for the appointment, etc." The whole matter with regard to these District Justices is at present before the Judiciary Committee, and the question as to their future and status, and so forth, is one of the matters upon which that Committee will make a very detailed report. I only mention that because some of the amendments, of which notice is given, seem to be based upon the assumption that this is a permanent, and not, as it is, in fact, a purely transitory measure until the final form and shape of these Courts have been legislated for, following the report of the Judiciary Committee.
ORDER OF BUSINESS.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
On a point of order, I would like to know if there is any reasonable explanation as to why we only received the Order Papers on entering the Seanad, although it is three weeks since we last met; also, how it is that both the District Justices (Temporary Provisions) Bill and another Bill have been put down for Committee stage, although we only got copies of these Bills as they left the Dáil, when we were entering the House to-day. I think you will agree, a Chathaoirligh, there is some reason for complaint when we find that the Standing Orders themselves are not being observed, and that it is quite impossible to do our business in a proper manner if this slipshod method of arranging the business of the day is to be allowed.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
I think it is only right to say that the responsibility for the complaint, the natural complaint that the Senator has made does not rest upon the Seanad or its officials. My object, of course, is to convene the Seanad as often as possible, as long as there is business for it. I do not like, and I have been requested by a great many Senators not to do so, to convene the Seanad and to put Senators to the inconvenience of attending here unless and until it is fairly certain that there will be a reason able amount of business for them to discharge. Consequently I summoned them for to-day in the belief, as we were informed from the Dáil, that a certain number of Bills were ready and could be circulated in time so as to be in the hands of Senators, in order that they might have an opportunity for considering them and framing such amendments as they might think fit. Accordingly I thought that I had a sufficient programme ready that I might place on the Agenda for to-day which would ensure the Seanad being occupied for at least two, if not three full working days. In that, unfortunately, I have been disappointed. In the first place I might mention that one of the most important of these Bills, that is the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Bill, which is being circulated amongst the members of the Seanad, was sent to us in the shape in which it left the Committee. Since then it has been materially altered on the Report Stage in the Dáil, and it was only this morning we received a print of the measure as it now stands, and in the position in which it left the Dáil. Consequently it has been a premature act on our part, through no fault of our officials, to put this Bill on the Agenda, because it would be impossible to discuss it in Committee to-day for the reasons I have told you, that it was only printed last night, and only came into our hands this morning. The members of the Seanad will understand that as far as the officials and myself are concerned we have done our best to provide a working Agenda for to-day.
I think it is only right that I should say, as a country member of the Seanad living more than 70 miles from Dublin, and with railway communication interrupted for the last ten days in my side of the country, that I have been fortunate in the matter of having received copies of all the Bills on the Agenda for to-day. With the exception of the Bill which was only printed last night I received copies of all the others on Monday last. I think it is only fair to the officials of the Seanad that I should make that statement.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
At any rate the Seanad can quite see that while these little accidents must happen, we hope for the day when they will become less frequent, and that the issue of these papers and the circulation of Bills will become a matter of mere practical routine, and that the members of the Seanad will not have any good reason for complaints by and bye. At present we are more or less feeling our way, and have got to do it with a certain amount of difficulty, having regard to the difficulties which I mentioned, illustrated by what has happened with regard to this Bill, the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Bill.
I think it will be agreed that it is undesirable that as a general rule the Second and Third Reading of Bills should be put down for the one day.
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
I quite agree. We shall have to make some regulation by which no Bill will be taken in Committee until the expiration of a certain number of days after the Second Reading in the Seanad. We shall have to do something of that kind, but up to the present we have been working on Bills that were Emergency Bills, and with regard to which there was great urgency, and the Seanad on many occasions, realising that, allowed Bills to go through under conditions which they would not agree to, I am certain, in the future, as a matter of regular practice.
Would it not be convenient, in view of what is stated, if we were to take up to-day the Second Stage of the various Bills on the Agenda, or as many of them as we could reach, and to-morrow the Committee Stage of the District Justices Bill, which has been in our hands for a considerable time, and leave until next week the Committee Stage of the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Bill and the Electoral Bill?
AN CATHAOIRLEACH
I think that would become essential as regards the Local Government (Temporary Provisions) Bill, because the final draft of that Bill was only printed yesterday, and only came into your hands and mine to-day, and, therefore, it is plain, I think, that we cannot go beyond the formal reading of that Bill for the second time to-day. I do not see any reason, Senator Douglas, why we might not dispose, if the Seanad so desires or thinks fit, of the District Justices (Temporary Provisions) Bill. It has been in the hands of Senators for some time; a certain number of amendments have been tabled to it, and I think we might dispose of them. There is another Bill we might put through all its stages, and that is the Bill with regard to the provision for the family and dependents of the late lamented Arthur Griffith. This Bill is a money Bill, and we have no power to alter or amend it, and the Seanad will agree with me that it is a Bill that we should put through all its stages to-day.