The Minister should be here to explain why the elections should be postponed. I did not object to the Second Reading of the Registration Bill. The two Bills, the Postponement and the Registration Bills, are more or less interlocked. The object of the postponement is apparently to give time for the Registration Bill to be passed. The object is to revise the register so that no persons be on the list of Local Government Electors who are not qualified to be on it and who are not contributing to the rates and expenditure of the local bodies. According to this Registration Bill I do not see any change of any importance whatever in the status of the local government elector. I am sorry it has omitted to make any provision for the exclusion of persons on the local government register who failed to pay their rates. According to the law at the present time the man who pays no rates has just as much voice in the expenditure of the money of the county as the man who pays. Perhaps the Minister would give some explanation to satisfy the Seanad why the postponement has taken place and also what the object of this Bill is.
LOCAL ELECTIONS POSTPONEMENT (AMENDMENT) BILL, 1923.—SECOND STAGE.
I do not think the Senator has a clear idea of what the object of this Bill is. It is not quite true to say that one Bill is dependent on the other. The object of the Postponement Bill is, first of all, if such a Bill is not introduced we will have an election on the 1st January. I do not think that would suit any Party. Another reason is that, as he has stated, the new register will not be completed by that date. There is also another reason—a large amount of the current rates are outstanding. If we have an election now people in default will have an excuse for withholding payment much longer. It would not be fair to saddle a new council with the debts of an old one. The other Bill is purely a machinery Bill and has nothing to do with franchise at all. It enables the local government register to be compiled with the register for the Dáil and Seanad to save expense. Otherwise it would mean that there would be two registers compiled, and it would mean double payment for travelling expenses and also for printing.