Before we proceed with the Sugar Manufacture Bill it would be well to decide when we will adjourn this evening.
Public Business. - Business of the Seanad.
Cathaoirleach
That is a matter for the House. Some Senators suggested that we should adjourn at 7 o'clock. I do not know if that will meet the views of Senators generally.
I suggest that we go on after tea to-night instead of to-morrow.
Cathaoirleach
We must decide one thing at a time. Does the House desire to adjourn at 7 o'clock?
Yes, we will adjourn at 7 o'clock.
Could we be given some indication as to whether the Land Bill is coming before the House this week or not?
Cathaoirleach
The Minister desires to make some statement on the Land Bill. Perhaps it would be better to hear the Minister on that matter before we proceed with other business.
With regard to the Land Bill, it is not the intention of the Government to ask the Seanad to deal with it in this part of the Session, and it will not be taken until the reassembly after the Recess. That applies also to the Moneylenders Bill. The Bills that will be taken are the Sugar Manufacture Bill, Damage to Property Bill, Barrow Drainage Bill, which is exceedingly urgent. The House will be also asked to take the Approved Investments Bill and the Merchant Shipping Bill.
Before the House is asked to consent to the Land Bill in the next Session, will the Minister give us an assurance that there will not be a General Election in the meantime?
Is not this suggestion of not proceeding with the Land Bill tantamount to a withdrawal of that Bill? Will it be clearly understood that this House is not obstructing proceeding with the Land Bill? We do not want another anti-Seanad argument that the House is preventing the passage of the Land Bill.
Cathaoirleach
It is my duty to point out to the House that the Bill is in our possession. We can proceed with it when we think best.
On the other hand, we have the recommendation from the Government that we should postpone it.
It would not be quite fair to the Government to say we are not ready to go ahead with the Land Bill, but the question of holidays for the staff has arisen, and it is in order to facilitate the Ceann Comhairle and the Cathaoirleach, in the business of both Houses, that the Government is not asking the Seanad to take the Land Bill at this stage of the Session.
I move that we take the Second Reading of the Land Bill to-morrow and the Committee Stage the week following. The House can then adjourn the further stages of the Bill or continue and finish it.
Is this the proper time for a motion like that? The Bill we are about to take is the Sugar Manufacture Bill and we have 20 minutes for the Minister to say what he has to say on that Bill. Now we are being rushed, in a small House, to say whether after that we should take the Second Reading of the Land Bill. I think that Bill ought to be sufficiently important to be dealt with at the beginning of a sitting when we have a full House. I do not think it should be rushed, at the present time, when we are about to take the Sugar Bill. We should be given a reasonable opportunity of debating the possibility of postponing the Land Bill and this is not the time to debate such a question.
Cathaoirleach
I suggest to the House that we postpone the decision of that question until we reach that particular Bill. The House can then decide what it will do. I take it that is agreed.