I would suggest the adjournment of the Report Stage of the Currency Bill. A very large number of subjects were left over, and matters on which amendments had been put down were left over for Report. They involved some of the most difficult and important features of the Bill. Acting on your suggestion, sir, we had an interview with the Minister for Finance on Saturday. It was a very long interview, during which we discussed a great many of these matters on which we arrived at a certain amount of agreement. That involved the drafting of a very large number of amendments. These amendments appear in the typed paper that we have received this morning. We only received it within the last few minutes. These amendments are of such importance that I suggest that it would be impossible for us to-day to go fully into them. I, therefore, suggest that we should adjourn the Report Stage until next day on which the Seanad sits. I understand that the Bill that is now before the Dáil will probably reach us by Thursday. The President told me that that is probable. It may not reach us so soon, but possibly it may. There is no doubt that this House cannot rise before a fortnight. Therefore, we are not prolonging the sitting by adjourning the Report Stage of this Bill, with all these important matters which we have not time to go into now.
CURRENCY BILL, 1927—REPORT STAGE.
While it is not unreasonable to do what Senator Brown mentions, I would suggest that we sit at 11 o'clock to-morrow and go on with the Currency Bill. That would give us reasonable time to consider these amendments. A good many of them have had already a considerable amount of discussion in Committee.
It is only a question of when we will next sit. My suggestion was that we consider them on the next day, and I thought that probably Thursday would be our next day of sitting. We might sit early on Thursday.
CATHAOIRLEACH
There are, I think, about thirty or forty changes suggested by the Government in this Bill. Some of them, I am pretty sure, are not very important, probably more or less drafting amendments, and are intended probably to carry out small matters that were agreed upon during the Committee Stage. What occurs to me is that perhaps we might go through these amendments and when we come to any complicated and difficult questions, then those who are interested in these particular matters, like Senators Jameson and Brown, could say to us: "Well, that amendment is difficult and complicated and requires further consideration." We could then leave that particular amendment over. The only thing I am anxious about is as to whether we could utilise this sitting to get rid of some of these amendments.
I hardly think that is fair to some of us who are specially interested in this Bill. On the face of it, it may appear that a new amendment is an innocent one, but very serious considerations may underlie it, and in the circumstances one wants time to think these amendments over. The subject is complicated and one's first impression of the amendments may not be correct. It would not be, in my opinion, an effective substitute for mature consideration.
CATHAOIRLEACH
Of course the Minister is entitled to have some say in this matter, and, as far as possible, we should consult his convenience. It would not be reasonable to suggest that we should get through the whole of this measure to-day, because there are some very important amendments suggested. The Senators who have taken a special interest in this Bill in different parts of the House will be able, having considered the new amendments, to say how far they could support or approve of them. If we have to adjourn a substantial part of those amendments to another day there is nothing gained in selecting a single amendment here and there. An amendment that may look to us on the paper quite simple, may involve a complicated matter. If we could, by any reasonable possibility, have finished our business this week so as to adjourn at the end of the week over the recess it would be a different matter, but it is quite obvious we cannot do that; we will not be able to rise before the third week of this month at the earliest.
I think probably less time would be spent if we were to adjourn the consideration of those amendments to another day. Senators have not had an opportunity of reading them. I think on consideration they will see that the amendments are obviously amendments which were proposed and postponed, or they are amendments that attempt to carry out suggestions for a compromise that were made here. It would probably be a saving of time if the consideration of them were adjourned.
CATHAOIRLEACH
Perhaps the most convenient thing would be to adjourn the consideration of them until this day week.
Consideration adjourned until Tuesday, 9th August.