 |
Austria and Hungary, indeed, represent a far more extreme and daring instance of this principle than it is necessary to put forward in regard to Ireland. They possess distinct Parliaments and distinct ministries. Those Parliaments sit apart and legislate apart and neither possess any representation in the other. But they have, as we have already seen, their link, not merely in a common Emperor and King, but in a common body called the Delegations. There is the Austrian Delegation and the Hungarian Delegation, both consisting of sixty members, twenty from each Upper House, and forty from each Lower House. The delegations sit alternately at Vienna and Buda Pesth, and they deliberately and independently communicate their decisions by writing. But if after three such interchanges no decision is arrived at, then the whole 120 meet together and settle the matter by vote without discussion. They possess a common Minister for Foreign Affairs, a common Minister of War, and a common Minister of Finance. Count Von Aehrenthal, who has in late years produced so startling an effect on European politics, is the common Minister for Foreign Affairs for Austria and Hungary, two countries with distinct Parliaments.
INDIA
I return from this tour of the world back to the British Empire. Here, too, the principle of Home Rule has been working, not merely in regard to our white dominions, but during the last ten years even more daringly in regard to the countries of our black subjects. The great Indian Reform Act of 1909 has created in India what are practically the first beginnings of Home Rule Councils. Seven great provinces of India have now each of them Legislative Councils of their own, and on nearly all of these Councils the unofficial members are in the majority.[71]
The powers of these Legislative Councils are still very limited; but who can doubt that they will increase?
We are, in other words, faced with the fact that while Ireland has been waiting for Home Rule we have taken the first great step in granting Home Rule to India. Surely this is a fact that presents a new challenge to the reactionary Unionist of the United Kingdom. Does he really contend that Ireland is incapable of receiving the same liberties as we are granting to India? Or will he make the wicked and dangerous suggestion that we are only conceding these things to India by force from fear of disorder, and in that way threaten the happy peace of Ireland?
Surely the concession of Home Rule to India removes the last vestige of an Imperial argument against Home Rule for Ireland also!
* * * * *
Such are the results of a general survey at the present moment. They show that in proposing Home Rule for Ireland we are not rowing against the tide, but following the drift of a general law which is prevailing all over the world.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[69] See Appendix K. This figure includes, of course, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
[70] See the Letters of Lord Aberdeen quoted by Mr. Gladstone.
[71] The Governors of Madras and Bombay and the five Lieutenant-Governors each have Legislative Councils. Under the new scheme the Legislative Councils of the provinces are constituted as follows:—
Madras 48 members. 20 official. 26 unofficial. 2 experts. Bombay 48 " 18 " 28 " 2 " Bengal 51 " 18 " 31 " 2 " United 49 " 21 " 26 " 2 " Provinces East Bengal 43 " 18 " 23 " 2 " and Assam Punjab 27 " 11 " 14 " 2 " Burma 18 " 7 " 9 " 2 "
HOME RULE FINANCE
"You gave L20,000,000 to the negroes or to their masters. Will you give L20,000,000 to the Irish?"
O'CONNELL
"The noble Lord, towards the conclusion of his speech, spoke of the cloud which rests at present over Ireland. It is a dark and heavy cloud, and its darkness extends over the feelings of men in all parts of the British Empire. But there is a consolation which we may all take to ourselves. An inspired King and bard and prophet has left us words which are not only the expression of a fact, but which we may take as the utterance of a prophecy. He says, 'To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.' Let us try in this matter to be upright. Let us try to be just. That cloud will be dispelled. The dangers which surround us will vanish, and we may yet have the happiness of leaving to our children the heritage of an honourable citizenship in a united and prosperous Empire."
JOHN BRIGHT (1868)
CHAPTER X.
HOME RULE FINANCE
Home Rule finance is already the subject of a whole library of books and pamphlets, and there is some danger that the money question may occupy a place out of all perspective and proportion in the coming controversy. Men quarrel over money very easily, and some of the fiercest opponents of Home Rule still imagine that they can silence the Home Rulers by talking "money" at the top of their voices. But the Home Rulers must not be drawn into that net. They must refuse to view this matter as a question merely of book-keeping and accounts. They must remember always that the financial difficulty is simply another statement of the fact of Irish poverty, and that Irish poverty is due to the Act of Union. It is not any financial arrangement, but Home Rule itself, that will cure the difficulties of Irish finance.
On the one side, the English are being told that they are going to be bled white in order to please Ireland. On the other side, the Irish are being warned by their extremists that England hopes to undo the effects of Home Rule by a dowry of impoverishment. On both sides of the Channel the enemies of Home Rule hope to use this as a weapon to defeat the cause. Let us, therefore, keep our heads, and look at the problem calmly and sanely.
What is the present position in regard to Irish finance? It has totally changed since 1893. It follows, therefore, that the financial proposals of the 1886 and the 1893 Bills are of little value to us as a guide to the policy of 1912.[72] In those days the British Government could cheerfully propose a fixed contribution of over L4,000,000 from the new Irish Parliament, as in the Bill of 1886, or an allocation of one-third of the general revenue of Ireland, for Imperial expenditure, as in the Bill of 1893. Lord Morley has told us that in 1886 Mr. Parnell was gravely disturbed over the finance proposals of Mr. Gladstone. We thought him unreasonable at the time, and perhaps a little mean. I can remember Liberals saying hard things about the Irish attitude in those days. But the events that have occurred since prove that Mr. Parnell, on that occasion, was only exercising his customary shrewdness. He saw to the root of the matter. He was evidently possessed with the fear that he might be saddled with a poverty-stricken Home Rule Parliament, and the course of events since 1886 has somewhat justified his fear.
THE NEW IRISH DEFICIT
For since 1886, two events have happened. The first has been that Ireland instead of being the creditor is now the debtor of England. The most recent Treasury estimate, as given by Mr. Asquith in his first reading speech on the Home Rule Bill of 1912 gives the true deficit of Ireland for 1912-3 at L1,500,000. I am aware that the Treasury estimates are open to many criticisms, which have been brilliantly stated by Professor Kettle in his handbook on "Home Rule Finance,"[73] but for our present purposes we are bound to accept these figures.
What do they show? In the first place, they fully bear out the forecast of the Financial Relations Commission that the position of Ireland under the Act of Union would become steadily worse. We have probably not yet reached the bottom of the hill. Ireland is so poor that each new Act for the relief of poverty increases the disproportion between the expenditure of Great Britain and Ireland. There is no way out of that vicious circle. If England were to increase Irish taxation she would simply increase the poverty which she has to relieve. During the last fifty years, in fact, the British Government has had to give back in some form of relief an equivalent for almost every increase of taxation enforced upon Ireland. If Ireland cannot pay, England must pay. That means that unless Home Rule is given during the next twenty years Ireland will become an increasingly heavy charge upon Great Britain.
In face of these facts, it is clear that Great Britain will be wise to "cut the loss." Considerable scorn has been thrown on the suggestion made by Professor Kettle and others that Great Britain should present Ireland with a dowry of L20,000,000 on the occasion of setting up a Home Rule Parliament. Mr. Kettle called it a "wedding present," to which Mr. F.E. Smith retaliated with some humour that it was really a "separation allowance." Mr. Kettle has since replied with even better humour that as Home Rule is the only true marriage between the nations his description is the more correct. This is all a pretty play of wit, but we must not allow it to conceal from us the fact that if John Bull deals generously with Ireland at this present moment he will be playing the part, not merely of a philanthropist, but of a good business man.
There are many ways in which this generosity can be shown. A big capital sum of money would probably be bad both for England and for Ireland. It would give Ireland a sense of dependence, and it would leave England with a sense of injury. There are many other better ways of making this financial adjustment. The charge which has turned Ireland into a debtor to England, for instance, is the L2,500,000 drawn from the Imperial Exchequer for Irish Old-age Pensions. The men and women who are receiving those pensions are the veterans of the famine period, and England has a special obligation towards them.
The Home Rule Bill of 1912 provides that these old age pensions should be kept for the moment as an Imperial charge. That will be both a generous and humane provision.
Another proposal made by Irish financial reformers is that the Royal Irish Constabulary, a force which costs L1,370,000 a year, should be regarded and paid for as an Imperial force. The argument is that the Royal Irish Constabulary was created in the interests of the English garrison—was, in fact, an army of occupation, which, since the new settlement of the Irish land question, has become, in Mr. Kettle's witty phrase, an "army of no occupation."
That proposal is not adopted in the Home Rule Bill of 1912. The force is kept under the control of the British Government for six years, and it will then be handed over to Ireland. In the meantime, it will be paid for out of the money reserved from Irish revenue by the Imperial Government. We shall have to wait, therefore, for six years before the Irish Government is able to apply economy to what is perhaps the most expensive and most extravagant service in the whole administration of Ireland.
The general financial proposals of the 1912 Bill are as follows:—
The British Treasury takes the Irish revenue and divides it into three portions. The first is the postal revenue, which will be both collected and controlled by the Irish Government, as the Post Office will be handed over immediately. The second is the "transferred" revenue, amounting to L6,350,000, which is the estimated cost of the services delegated to the Irish Parliament, such as the Civil Service, the payment of judges, and so forth. This revenue will still be collected by the Imperial Government, but handed over to Ireland. The third portion will be the "reserved" revenue, consisting of the amount retained by the British Treasury for the services over which it will retain control. Those services will be as follows:—
L Old Age Pensions 2,660,000 National Insurance 190,000 Land Purchase 616,000 Constabulary (Royal Irish) 1,380,000 Collection of Revenue 300,000 ————- 5,146,000 ————-
This leaves the profit and loss account for Great Britain as follows:—
Receipts. Expenditure. L9,485,000 On "Reserved Services" L5,046,000 On "Transferred Sum" 6,350,000 —————- L11,396,000 —————-
The upshot is that the British deficit, which stands at present at L1,500,000, will rise to L1,911,000. That will be covered by a grant of L500,000 a year. That grant will be reduced annually by decrements of L50,000 until it reaches L200,000.
There is no need for the British taxpayer to be alarmed at this balance-sheet. The essential fact is that Home Rule will work steadily on the side of thrift and saving. The substantial points are—(1) that pensions will from this time forward steadily decrease; (2) that the Royal Irish Constabulary will be diminished; and (3) that any increase in the prosperity of Ireland will result in an increasing yield of taxation collected by the British Treasury and devoted to the benefit of the British taxpayer. The British taxpayer, in a word, is thoroughly well looked after.
Doubtless these proposals will be subjected to much criticism in committee, and no one would pretend that they could not be improved in detail. It might be argued, for instance, that it would be better for Great Britain to make herself responsible for the Royal Irish Constabulary as an Imperial charge, and therefore have a motive for reducing it. That action might be taken as a generous substitute for the bonus of L500,000 a year, which may possibly not produce favourable effects on the relations between the two countries. As against the extra charge to the British Treasury, you would have the fact that the British Government could immediately proceed to reduce the Constabulary.
But once give Ireland a chance by some such settlement as this, and then the main problem of finance will solve itself. For we cannot ignore one very important aspect of that problem—the extravagance of Irish government. One of the most startling revelations of the Financial Commission Report was that Ireland, a poor country, cost twice as much to govern as Belgium, a country of nearly twice the population. Mr. Kettle has shown since that the Civil Service of Ireland is four times as great, and costs more than four times as much, as the Civil Service of Scotland.[74]
Why is this? Because at the present moment two systems of government are existing in Ireland side by side—the old and the new. The old is for the most part an encumbrance and an impediment, but the new is required for doing the work of land purchase and agricultural development. Ireland is like a household into which a new staff of servants is being imported, while nobody dares to disturb the old. Could there be a more extravagant way of governing a country?
The only way to put that house in order is to give it Home Rule. All the rights of existing civil servants must be respected, and therefore the saving on that account will only be gradual. Mr. Kettle estimates it at L700,000 within a reasonable time. That is probably even an under-estimate. For once this kind of saving begins, it soon tells on a nation's expenditure. Ireland is at present governed from the point of view of the place-hunters. Once Ireland begins to be governed from the point of view of the Irish people, then the reign of extravagance will be at an end.
Once the Home Rule Parliament is set up we shall be able to distinguish clearly between Ireland's local and her Imperial obligations. We shall hear much indignant talk against any proposal that Ireland shall pay less than her full proportional contribution for Imperial Defence. Those who are so moved on this question seem to forget that the British Colonies pay practically nothing. Yet we have never heard that they are paupers on that account. They certainly derive more from the Empire than Ireland. Therefore, there would be nothing either degrading or unjust even if Ireland were relieved from all Imperial expenditure for a term of years. For Ireland requires time to recover from the impoverishment of the past, and it may be wise to give her that time. But once that time is over, the Irish Parliament will probably wish to follow in the steps of the Grattan Parliament, and contribute her honest due to the Empire of which she will be a part. But that due must be paid, not out of deficit, but out of surplus. As long as Ireland has a deficit produced by poverty, it is absurd to talk to her about Empire. Once she has a surplus—and a surplus will soon come with the working of Home Rule—then she will play her part in a manly way.
For we must never forget that Home Rule in itself is a great financial asset. During the brief period of the Grattan Parliament, as we have seen, Ireland doubled her exports. During that time the Parliament carried out public works in every part of Ireland, and industry throve. Those things cannot be done by an absentee Parliament. They can only be done by a Parliament on the spot. They are intensely and earnestly needed by Ireland at present. For Ireland is largely an industrial derelict, waiting for the restoring hand of a central governing power. It is impossible to put this aspect of the matter into figures. Here we must move in faith. But we cannot see this matter clearly unless we believe firmly—as we have every justification for believing—that Home Rule means wealth to Ireland.
THE FINANCIAL COMMISSION
But we have to remember that since 1893 a great and authoritative Financial Commission has reported that England stands in debt to Ireland.
The British public has never quite realised what the Report of 1896 signified, or quite understood the effect which it produced on the Irish nation. The Financial Relations Commission was a body created by the Liberal Government in 1894, soon after the defeat of the Home Rule Bill, and partly as a consequence of that defeat. It consisted of fifteen of the ablest financiers in the United Kingdom, including two great Treasury Chiefs, Lord Farrer and Lord Welby, Sir Robert Hamilton, Sir David Barbour, and that great Parliamentary financial expert Mr. W.A. Hunter. The chair was occupied by an ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Childers.[75] The Commission sat for two years, and carried out a most searching investigation. They reported in 1896. Their united Report consists of only two pages in the Blue Book,[76] and the essence of it is contained in five short paragraphs, as follows:—
(1) That Great Britain and Ireland must, for the purpose of this inquiry, be considered as separate entities.
(2) That the Act of Union imposed upon Ireland a burden which, as events showed, she was unable to bear.
(3) That the increase of taxation laid upon Ireland between 1853 and 1860 was not justified by the then existing circumstances.
(4) That identity of rates of taxation does not necessarily involve equality of burden.
(5) That whilst the actual tax revenue of Ireland is about one-eleventh of that of Great Britain, the relative taxable capacity of Ireland is very much smaller, and is not estimated by any of us as exceeding one-twentieth.
Now, what does this amount to? As worked out in the various minority reports, it means that, in the opinion of this Commission, Ireland has been over-taxed for many years at the rate of over L2,000,000 a year. As to the precise sum the Commissioners differ. Some went as high as L3,500,000, others down to L2,000,000, but all, except Sir Thomas Sutherland and Sir David Barbour, set it at about L2,000,000. Mr. Childers, unhappily, died before the close of the Commission. But he wrote an epoch-making Report, in which he estimated the excess of taxation at L2,250,000.[77]
Now, it is useless to make light of this Report. It was the solemn judgment of the highest financiers of the day on the financial workings of the Act of Union. If we turn back to the debates in Parliament in 1800, especially to the speeches of Pitt, prophesying that the Act of Union would take the wealth of England across St. George's Channel, and apply it to Ireland, we cannot escape some sombre reflections on the short-sightedness of great statesmen. Pitt's judgment was disturbed by the existence of a war with France, which created in him an intense desire to unite the two countries. Otherwise he would probably have foreseen that for a rich partner to unite his finances with a poor partner certainly meant bankruptcy for the one, and probably, in the end, also ruin for the other. Taking the nineteenth century as a whole, the fundamental financial error has been this—that Ireland has been taxed on the theory of equality with England in point of wealth. That equality has not existed. What was a light burden for the one country has proved for the other a burden too heavy to be borne.
The result has been that Ireland, being continually overtaxed, has sunk steadily in her resources, and has gradually become less and less of a taxable country. The taxes have returned less and less, and have had to be returned in the form of relief of poverty. A crisis in that situation is now reached, and it is quite clear that we stand at the parting of two roads. Now that the balance is beginning to work against England, it is certain that the only alternative to the restoration of Ireland is the gradual dragging down of England.
It is useless and unjust to argue, in answer to this great Report, that Ireland ought not to have been regarded as a financial unit at all. Any country that is an island, and possesses a social organisation of its own, with a definite relationship between rich and poor, must necessarily be a financial unit. But even if that were not so, it is too late to argue the question with any honour. For we must never forget that the whole financial legislation of the United Kingdom in regard to Ireland is based upon the Act of Union, which was practically a solemn treaty between the two countries, passed—we will not say how—by both the British and the Irish Parliaments. It is the essence of that treaty that Ireland entered into it upon certain financial terms, and among those terms was the condition that she should be treated as a separate financial unit.
This Report, therefore, immensely strengthens the claim of Ireland to more generous financial terms in 1912 than in 1886 or in 1893.
We want to set up in Ireland a high and strong sense of financial responsibility. The control therefore, as well as the expenditure, must be placed as far as possible in Irish hands, and for that purpose the management, as well as the collection, of Irish taxes ought to be left as far as possible with the Irish Exchequer that must be set up.
The tendency is started by the principle of the Bill of 1912, and the policy of the next decade will be to place in Irish hands as rapidly as possible both the collection and the administration of the finance for all the great Irish services, including those at present "reserved" as well as those at present "transferred."
This brings us finally to the vexed problem of Customs and Excise. It is notorious that the greater part of the Irish revenue—the revenue of a poor country, derived for the most part through indirect taxation—is drawn from Customs and Excise.[78]
It is not, perhaps, surprising, therefore, that the Bill of 1912 should go some way towards meeting the demand that has sprung up in various quarters, both in Ireland and in England, for the control of customs and excise by the Irish Parliament. The proposal of the Government is that we should extend to Ireland, with some variations, what is at present the financial arrangement in regard to customs and excise between the British Treasury and the Isle of Man. The first fact to be remembered quite clearly is that the Irish Parliament is absolutely debarred from creating any new duty. It will not be able to draw up any new set of tariffs. In other words, it will have to adapt its revenue to the general financial policy of the central government, whether that be a free trade policy or a tariff reform policy. But Ireland is to be allowed to vary her customs within certain limits. She may, for instance, reduce her customs to the lowest point, on the only condition that she loses thereby equivalent revenue. But on the main custom duties which fall on such articles as tea, sugar, cocoa, tobacco, and so forth, she cannot raise her customs beyond 10 per cent. The only exceptions will be beer and spirits, on which Ireland may raise her customs or her excise to any point that she desires. It will be necessary, of course, to have rebates or countervailing duties in regard to articles transferred from Great Britain to Ireland, or vice versa, and to that very slight extent alone will these proposals affect the trade relations between Ireland and England.
I may add that the same power of reduction or addition will extend both to income tax and death duties up to the limit of 10 per cent. for increase—a provision which will safeguard the industries of the North from being sacrificed to the needs of the South.[79]
Such are the proposals of the 1912 Home Rule Bill. They appear to present an ingenious compromise between the complete delegation of customs and excise and the complete centralisation. There are very serious objections to the complete separation of these duties. One is that separation of customs has been accepted everywhere as vitally inconsistent with the Federal idea. No State of the American Union has separate customs. Even Bavaria, a State of the German Empire which possesses, as we have seen, a separate army, post office, and national railways, has no separate customs. Such a plan could, therefore, hardly fit in with Federalism, as at present realised in any part of the world. The second objection would be the very grave offence given to the free trade sentiment of Great Britain, and the very grave injury to trade between Britain and Ireland, if we were to hand over to Ireland the right of placing taxes on English goods. Under such circumstances it would certainly be impossible to persuade the British public to grant a bonus to Ireland in order to give her the power of taxing British goods. That would clearly be too great a strain upon the Christian sentiment even of John Bull.
Parnell, it is well known, felt a strong temptation to make a demand for separate customs. But he always put it aside as impolitic, probably on this very ground; and the rise of the Tariff Reform movement since his death has certainly not weakened those considerations, because it has led to a corresponding rise of free trade feeling among a large part of the British public on this side of the Channel.
It is quite clear that the Government's compromise on customs and excise, ingenious as it is, will be subject to very close and shrewd criticism. But the first duty of Home Rulers, both in Great Britain and Ireland, is to avoid the carefully-baited trap of a quarrel on points of detail. That is the obvious game of the enemies of Home Rule. The proper policy of every true Home Ruler is to preserve through all the vicissitudes of those financial discussions a sane and steady perspective, well knowing that, after all, finance is not really the true heart of this problem.
THE MIGHTY HOPE
We must not reduce a great human problem to a squabble over pocket-money. We must in this, too, as in the religious and political sides of the question, have faith in the result of freedom. We must believe, as we have every right to believe, that liberty will bring to Ireland a new power over her resources, and a new skill in using them—that her magnificent harbours will no longer be silent, or her rivers empty; that her factories will hum once more with a new life and industry; that the grass will cease to grow in her streets and on her wharves, and that the rich and strong will cease to fly from her shores. All this must be taken into account in any reasonable calculation of the future. It is just as foolish to err from lack of faith as it is to blunder from excess of credulity.
For here, indeed, we have an excellent precedent to give us hope. It was the common evidence of all experts at the time that Ireland grew greatly richer under the twenty years of Grattan's Parliament. The future Irish Parliament will, just as it will be more representative, so supply Ireland with a machine even more efficient than Grattan's Parliament. If so, we have every reason to suppose that within twenty years we shall have a richer Ireland, with a far greater taxable capacity. For can we doubt that the alchemy of liberty will here, too, even in this sordid realm of finance, repeat its ancient power?
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[72] For these proposals see Appendix D.
[73] For instance, in the absence of Irish Customs the estimates of true Irish revenue can only be approximate. On the expenditure side, too, there are grave matters of consideration. For instance, should the vote for Irish Constabulary be regarded as a local or Imperial charge? Or Irish judges, or even Irish poverty? It was the definite opinion of the Financial Relations Commission that until Home Rule was set up there could be no possible way of distinguishing between local and Imperial expenditure in Ireland.
[74] There are 4,397 civil servants in Ireland with incomes over L160 a year, as against 944 for Scotland. (Inland Revenue Report, 1909-1910.)
[75] The members of this Commission were:—The Rt. Hon. Hugh Childers, Lord Farrer, Lord Welby, the Rt. Hon. O'Conor Don, Sir Robt. Hamilton, Sir Thomas Sutherland, K.C.M.G., Sir David Barbour, K.C.S.I., the Hon. Ed. Blake, M.P., Bertram W. Currie, Esq., W.A. Hunter, Esq., M.P., C.E. Martin, Esq., J.E. Redmond, Esq., M.P., Thomas Sexton, Esq., M.P., and added in June, 1894, Henry F. Slattery, Esq., and G.W. Wolff, Esq., M.P.
[76] C. 8262, price 1s. 10d.
[77] Lord MacDonnell has estimated the total over-payment of Ireland in the nineteenth century as exceeding L300,000,000.
[78] Out of a total tax-revenue of L24,000,000 from 1906-9 Ireland paid no less than L18,000,000 in Customs and Excise. (Inland Revenue Report.)
[79] See the Government Outline of Financial Provisions, Appendix A.
HOME RULE
APPENDICES
A. THE HOME RULE BILL OF 1912.
B. THE SHRINKAGE OF IRELAND.
C. THE ACT OF UNION.
D. THE HOME RULE BILLS OF 1886 AND 1893.
E. THE IRISH BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.
F. THE REDUCTION IN IRISH PAUPERISM.
G. THE LAND LAW (IRELAND) ACT, 1881.
H. THE CONGESTED DISTRICTS BOARD.
J. IRISH CANALS AND RAILWAYS.
K. HOME RULE PARLIAMENTS IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
APPENDIX A
THE HOME RULE BILL OF 1912.
A BILL TO
[Sidenote: A.D. 1912.]
AMEND the PROVISION for the Government of Ireland. BE it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Legislative Authority.
[Sidenote: Establishment of Irish Parliament.]
1.—(1) On and after the appointed day there shall be in Ireland an Irish Parliament consisting of His Majesty the King and two Houses, namely, the Irish Senate and the Irish House of Commons.
(2) Notwithstanding the establishment of the Irish Parliament or anything contained in this Act, the supreme power and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected and undiminished over all persons, matters, and things within His Majesty's dominions.
[Sidenote: Legislative powers of Irish Parliament.]
2. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Irish Parliament shall have power to make laws for the peace, order, and government of Ireland with the following limitations, namely, that they shall not have power to make laws except in respect of matters exclusively relating to Ireland or some part thereof, and (without prejudice to that general limitation) that they shall not have power to make laws in respect of the following matters in particular, or any of them, namely—
(1) The Crown, or the succession to the Crown, or a Regency; or the Lord Lieutenant except as respects the exercise of his executive power in relation to Irish services as defined for the purposes of this Act; or
(2) The making of peace or war or matters arising from a state of war; or the regulation of the conduct of any portion of His Majesty's subjects during the existence of hostilities between Foreign States with which His Majesty is at peace, in relation to those hostilities; or
(3) The navy, the army, the territorial force, or any other naval or military force, or the defence of the realm, or any other naval or military matter; or
(4) Treaties, or any relations, with Foreign States, or relations with other parts of His Majesty's dominions, or offences connected with any such treaties or relations, or procedure connected with the extradition of criminals under any treaty, or the return of fugitive offenders from or to any part of His Majesty's dominions; or
(5) Dignities or titles of honour; or
(6) Treason, treason felony, alienage, naturalisation, or aliens as such; or
(7) Trade with any place out of Ireland (except so far as trade may be affected by the exercise of the powers of taxation given to the Irish Parliament, or by the regulation of importation for the sole purpose of preventing contagious disease); quarantine; or navigation, including merchant shipping (except as respects inland waters and local health or harbour regulations); or
(8) Lighthouses, buoys, or beacons (except so far as they can consistently with any general Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom) be constructed or maintained by a local harbour authority; or
(9) Coinage; legal tender; or any change in the standard of weights and measures; or
(10) Trade marks, designs, merchandise marks, copyright, or patent rights; or
(11) Any of the following matters (in this Act referred to as reserved matters), namely—
[Sidenote: 8 Edw. 7. c. 40 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 16. 1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 55. 9 Edw. c. 7.]
(a) The general subject-matter of the Acts relating to Land Purchase in Ireland, the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 and 1911, the National Insurance Act, 1911, and the Labour Exchanges Act, 1909;
(b) The collection of taxes;
(c) The Royal Irish Constabulary and the management and control of that force;
(d) Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and Friendly Societies; and
(e) Public loans made in Ireland before the passing of this Act:
Provided that the limitation on the powers of the Irish Parliament under this section shall cease as respects any such reserved matter if the corresponding reserved service is transferred to the Irish Government under the provisions of this Act.
Any law made in contravention of the limitations imposed by this section shall, so far as it contravenes those limitations, be void.
[Sidenote: Prohibition of laws interfering with religious equality, &c.]
3. In the exercise of their power to make laws under this Act the Irish Parliament shall not make a law so as either directly or indirectly to establish or endow any religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, or give a preference, privilege, or advantage, or impose any disability or disadvantage, on account of religious belief or religious or ecclesiastical status, or make any religious belief or religious ceremony a condition of the validity of any marriage.
Any law made in contravention of the restrictions imposed by this section shall, so far as it contravenes those restrictions, be void.
Executive Authority.
[Sidenote: Executive power in Ireland.]
4.—(1) The executive power in Ireland shall continue vested in His Majesty the King, and nothing in this Act shall affect the exercise of that power except as respects Irish services as defined for the purposes of this Act.
(2) As respects those Irish services the Lord Lieutenant or other chief executive officer or officers for the time being appointed in his place, on behalf of His Majesty, shall exercise any prerogative or other executive power of His Majesty the exercise of which may be delegated to him by His Majesty.
(3) The power so delegated shall be exercised through such Irish Departments as may be established by Irish Act, or subject thereto, by the Lord Lieutenant, and the Lord Lieutenant may appoint officers to administer those Departments, and those officers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Lord Lieutenant.
(4) The persons who are for the time being heads of such Irish Departments as may be determined by Irish Act, or, in the absence of any such determination, by the Lord Lieutenant, and such other persons (if any) as the Lord Lieutenant may appoint, shall be the Irish Ministers.
Provided that—
(a) No such person shall be an Irish Minister unless he is a member of the Privy Council of Ireland; and
(b) No such person shall hold office as an Irish Minister for a longer period than six months, unless he is or becomes a member of one of the Houses of the Irish Parliament; and
(c) Any such person not being the head of an Irish Department shall hold office as an Irish Minister during the pleasure of the Lord Lieutenant in the same manner as the head of an Irish Department holds his office.
(5) The persons who are Irish Ministers for the time being shall be an Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Ireland (in this Act referred to as the "Executive Committee"), to aid and advise the Lord Lieutenant in the exercise of his executive power in relation to Irish services.
(6) For the purposes of this Act, "Irish services" are all public services in connexion with the administration of the civil government of Ireland except the administration of matters with respect to which the Irish Parliament have no power to make laws, including in the exception all public services in connexion with the administration of the reserved matters (in this Act referred to as "reserved services").
[Sidenote: Future transfer of certain reserved services.]
5.—(1) The public services in connexion with the administration of the Acts relating to the Royal Irish Constabulary and the management and control of that force, shall by virtue of this Act be transferred from the Government of the United Kingdom to the Irish Government on the expiration of a period of six years from the appointed day and those public services shall then cease to be reserved services and become Irish services.
(2) If a resolution is passed by both Houses of the Irish Parliament providing for the transfer from the Government of the United Kingdom to the Irish Government of the following reserved services, namely—
(a) All public services in connexion with the administration of the Old Age Pensions Acts, 1908 and 1911; or
(b) All public services in connexion with the administration of Part I. of the National Insurance Act, 1911; or
(c) All public services in connexion with the administration of Part II. of the National Insurance Act, 1911, and the Labour Exchanges Act, 1909; or
(d) All public services in connexion with the administration of Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and Friendly Societies;
the public services to which the resolution relates shall be transferred accordingly as from a date fixed by the resolution, being a date not less than a year after the date on which the resolution is passed, and shall on the transfer taking effect cease to be reserved services and become Irish services:
Provided that this provision shall not take effect as respects the transfer of the services in connexion with Post Office Savings Banks, Trustee Savings Banks, and Friendly Societies until the expiration of ten years from the appointed day.
(3) On any transfer under or by virtue of this section, the transitory provisions of this Act (so far as applicable) and the provisions of this Act as to existing Irish officers shall apply with respect to the transfer, with the substitution of the date of the transfer for the appointed day, and of a period of five years from that date for the transitional period.
Irish Parliament.
[Sidenote: Summoning, &c., of Irish Parliament.]
6.—(1) There shall be a session of the Irish Parliament once at least in every year, so that twelve months shall not intervene between the last sitting of the Parliament in one session and their first sitting in the next session.
(2) The Lord Lieutenant shall, in His Majesty's name, summon, prorogue, and dissolve the Irish Parliament.
[Sidenote: Royal assent to Bills of Irish Parliament]
7. The Lord Lieutenant shall give or withhold the assent of His Majesty to Bills passed by the two Houses of the Irish Parliament, subject to the following limitations; namely—
(1) He shall comply with any instructions given by His Majesty in respect of any such Bill; and
(2) He shall, if so directed by His Majesty, postpone giving the assent of His Majesty to any such Bill presented to him for assent for such period as His Majesty may direct.
[Sidenote: Composition of Irish Senate.]
8.—(1) The Irish Senate shall consist of forty senators nominated as respects the first senators by the Lord Lieutenant subject to any instructions given by His Majesty in respect of the nomination, and afterwards by the Lord Lieutenant on the advice of the Executive Committee.
(2) The term of office of every senator shall be eight years, and shall not be affected by a dissolution; one fourth of the senators shall retire in every second year, and their seats shall be filled by a new nomination.
(3) If the place of a senator becomes vacant before the expiration of his term of office, the Lord Lieutenant shall, unless the place becomes vacant not more than six months before the expiration of that term of office, nominate a senator in the stead of the senator whose place is vacant, but any senator so nominated to fill a vacancy shall hold office only so long as the senator in whose stead he is nominated would have held office.
[Sidenote: Composition of Irish House of Commons.]
9.—(1) The Irish House of Commons shall consist of one hundred and sixty-four members, returned by the constituencies in Ireland named in the First Part of the First Schedule to this Act in accordance with that Schedule, and elected by the same electors and in the same manner as members returned by constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
(2) The Irish House of Commons when summoned shall, unless sooner dissolved, have continuance for five years from the day on which the summons directs the House to meet and no longer.
(3) After three years from the passing of this Act, the Irish Parliament may alter, as respects the Irish House of Commons, the qualification of the electors, the mode of election, the constituencies, and the distribution of the members of the House among the constituencies, provided that in any new distribution the number of the members of the House shall not be altered, and due regard shall be had to the population of the constituencies other than University constituencies.
[Sidenote: Money Bills.]
10.—(1) Bills appropriating revenue or money, or imposing taxation, shall originate only in the Irish House of Commons, but a Bill shall not be taken to appropriate revenue or money, or to impose taxation by reason only of its containing provisions for the imposition or appropriation of fines or other pecuniary penalties, or for the payment or appropriation of fees for licences or fees for services under the Bill.
(2) The Irish House of Commons shall not adopt or pass any resolution, address, or Bill for the appropriation for any purpose of any part of the public revenue of Ireland or of any tax, except in pursuance of a recommendation from the Lord Lieutenant in the session in which the vote, resolution, address, or Bill is proposed.
(3) The Irish Senate may not reject any Bill which deals only with the imposition of taxation or appropriation of revenue or money for the services of the Irish Government, and may not amend any Bill so far as the Bill imposes taxation or appropriates revenue or money for the services of the Irish Government, and the Irish Senate may not amend any Bill so as to increase any proposed charges or burden on the people.
(4) Any Bill which appropriates revenue or money for the ordinary annual services of the Irish Government shall deal only with that appropriation.
[Sidenote: Disagreement between two Houses of Irish Parliament.]
11.—(1) If the Irish House of Commons pass any Bill and the Irish Senate reject or fail to pass it, or pass it with amendments to which the Irish House of Commons will not agree, and if the Irish House of Commons in the next session again pass the Bill with or without any amendments which have been made or agreed to by the Irish Senate, and the Irish Senate reject or fail to pass it, or pass it with amendments to which the Irish House of Commons will not agree, the Lord Lieutenant may during that session convene a joint sitting of the members of the two Houses.
(2) The members present at any such joint sitting may deliberate and shall vote together upon the Bill as last proposed by the Irish House of Commons, and upon the amendments (if any) which have been made therein by the one House and not agreed to by the other; and any such amendments which are affirmed by a majority of the total number of members of the two Houses present at the sitting shall be taken to have been carried.
(3) If the Bill with the amendments (if any) so taken to have been carried is affirmed by a majority of the total number of members of the two Houses present at any such sitting, it shall be taken to have been duly passed by both Houses.
[Sidenote: Privileges, qualifications, &c. of members of Irish Parliament.]
12.—(1) The powers, privileges, and immunities of the Irish Senate and of the Irish House of Commons, and of the members and of the committees of the Irish Senate and the Irish House of Commons, shall be such as may be defined by Irish Act, but so that they shall never exceed those for the time being held and enjoyed by the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom and its members and committees, and, until so defined, shall be those held and enjoyed by the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and its members and committees at the date of the passing of this Act.
(2) The law, as for the time being in force, relating to the qualification and disqualification of members of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom, and the taking of any oath required to be taken by a member of that House, shall apply to members of the Irish House of Commons.
(3) Any peer, whether of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Scotland, or Ireland, shall be qualified to be a member of either House.
(4) A member of either House shall be incapable of being nominated or elected, or of sitting, as a member of the other House, but an Irish Minister who is a member of either House shall have the right to sit and speak in both Houses, but shall vote only in the House of which he is a member.
(5) A member of either House may resign his seat by giving notice of resignation to the person and in the manner directed by standing orders of the House, or if there is no such direction, by notice in writing of resignation sent to the Lord Lieutenant, and his seat shall become vacant on notice of resignation being given.
(6) The powers of either House shall not be affected by any vacancy therein, or by any defect in the nomination, election, or qualification, of any member thereof.
(7) His Majesty may by Order in Council declare that the holders of the offices in the Irish Executive named in the Order shall not be disqualified for being members of either House of the Irish Parliament by reason of holding office under the Crown, and except as otherwise provided by Irish Act, the Order shall have effect as if it were enacted in this Act, but on acceptance of any such office the seat of any such person in the Irish House of Commons shall be vacated unless he has accepted the office in succession to some other of the said offices.
Irish Representation in the House of Commons.
[Sidenote: Representation of Ireland in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.]
13. Unless and until the Parliament of the United Kingdom otherwise determine, the following provisions shall have effect:—
(1) After the appointed day the number of members returned by constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall be forty-two and the constituencies returning those members shall (in lieu of the existing constituencies) be the constituencies named in the second Part of the First Schedule to this Act, and no University in Ireland shall return a member to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
(2) The election laws and the laws relating to the qualification of parliamentary electors shall not, so far as they relate to elections of members returned by constituencies in Ireland to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, be altered by the Irish Parliament, but this enactment shall not prevent the Irish Parliament from dealing with any officers concerned with the issue of writs of election, and if any officers are so dealt with, it shall be lawful for His Majesty by Order in Council to arrange for the issue of any such writs, and the writs issued in pursuance of the Order shall be of the same effect as if issued in manner heretofore accustomed.
* * * * *
So far for the constitutional clauses. The clauses from 14 to 26 are occupied with finance. They are so technical that it will be more convenient to substitute the terms of the very clear Memorandum issued by the Government:—
OUTLINE OF FINANCIAL PROVISIONS.
Present Irish Revenue and Expenditure.
It is estimated that the revenue to be derived from Ireland in the year 1912-13 will be as follows:—
L Customs 3,230,000 Excise 3,320,000 Income tax 1,512,000 Estate duties 939,000 Stamps 347,000 Miscellaneous 137,000 Post Office 1,354,000 —————- Total 10,839,000 —————-
It is estimated that the expenditure for Irish purposes in the year 1912-13 will amount to L12,354,000. The expenditure may be divided for the purposes of this Memorandum as follows:—
L All purposes not separately specified 5,462,000 Post Office 1,600,000 Old Age Pensions 2,664,000 Charges under the Land Purchase Acts 761,000 National Insurance and Labour Exchanges 191,500 Royal Irish Constabulary 1,377,500 Collection of revenue 298,000 ————— Total 12,354,000 —————
The expenditure therefore exceeds the revenue by L1,515,000.
It is anticipated that in a period of ten or fifteen years the charges under the existing Land Purchase Acts will increase by L450,000, and under the National Insurance Act by L300,000. On the other hand, it is estimated that within twenty years the cost of Old Age Pensions will decrease by L200,000.
Charges upon the Irish Exchequer.
The Bill provides for the establishment of an Irish Exchequer and an Irish Consolidated Fund.
From the Irish Exchequer will be defrayed the whole of the present and future cost of Irish government, with the exception of the expenditure on certain services, termed in the Bill Reserved Services.
Charges upon the Imperial Exchequer.
The Imperial Government will retain the control, and the Imperial Exchequer will continue to bear the cost, of the Reserved Services, namely, Old Age Pensions, National Insurance, Labour Exchanges, Land Purchase, and Collection of Taxes. For a period of six years the Royal Irish Constabulary will also be one of the Reserved Services.
There are provisions for the transfer to the Irish Government of certain of the Reserved Services under the conditions stated below.
Revenue of the Irish Exchequer.
The Bill provides, in the first instance, for the period during which the yield of Irish taxes is less than the cost of Irish administration, and contemplates certain modifications after a financial equilibrium has been attained.
During that period the revenue of the Irish Exchequer will consist of a sum transferred annually from the Imperial Exchequer, and termed in the Bill the Transferred Sum, together with the receipts of the Irish Post Office.
The Transferred Sum will be fixed at the outset at such amount as will cover, with the addition of the Post Office revenue, the present expenditure on Irish Government, with the exception of the cost of the Reserved Services. Included in the Transferred Sum will also be a specified sum as surplus. The amount of this surplus will be L500,000 annually for a period of three years, then diminishing by L50,000 a year for six years till it reaches L200,000, at which sum it will remain.
Subject to this variation in the amount of the surplus and to certain minor variations specified in the Bill, and subject also to any changes consequent upon the exercise by the Irish Parliament of the powers of increasing or reducing taxation which are defined below, the amount of the Transferred Sum, fixed in the first year after the passing of the Act, will remain the same until an equilibrium is reached between the total revenue derived from Ireland and the total expenditure on Irish purposes.
Revenue of the Imperial Exchequer from Ireland.
The Bill provides that until such equilibrium is established the whole of the proceeds of all Irish taxes shall be collected by the Treasury of the United Kingdom, and be paid into the Imperial Exchequer. (This provision does not apply to Post Office revenue.)
The revenue so collected should be sufficient to cover the Transferred Sum and to provide a balance sufficient to defray a part of the cost of the Reserved Services. As the revenue from Ireland increases in the future, the receipts of the Imperial Exchequer will increase proportionately, and the yearly deficit which will fall at the outset upon the Imperial Exchequer will gradually be lessened and ultimately disappear.
Joint Exchequer Board.
The Bill establishes a Joint Exchequer Board of Great Britain and Ireland, consisting of two members appointed by the Imperial Treasury and two by the Irish Treasury, with a Chairman appointed by His Majesty the King.
The duty of the Board will be to determine certain questions of fact arising from time to time under the financial provisions of the Bill.
The figures given in this Paper are estimates only, and do not purport to be final. The Bill, therefore, does not rest upon these figures, but enables fuller returns to be obtained after the passing of the Act, and it provides that the amounts of Irish Revenue and Expenditure for the purposes of the Act shall be, not the figures given in this Paper, but such sums as may be determined after the passing of the Act, upon the basis of these fuller returns and of the more accurate figures of Revenue and Expenditure which will then be available, by the Joint Exchequer Board.
Revenue and Expenditure Accounts.
If, however, the estimates given above are assumed, for purposes of illustration, to be the figures finally determined, the Irish Government's Budget in the first year would balance as follows:—
Revenue. Expenditure. L L Transferred Sum 6,127,000 All purposes not Post Office 1,354,000 separately specified - 5,462,000 Fee Stamps 81,000 Post Office - 1,600,000 7,062,000 Surplus - 500,000* Total - 7,562,000 Total - 7,562,000 - * Subject to subsequent reduction as stated above.
The Imperial Government's receipts and expenditure on Irish account would balance as follows:—
Revenue. Expenditure. L L Irish Revenue Transferred Sum 6,127,000 (excluding Post Old Age Pensions 2,664,000 Office and fee National Insurance stamps) 9,404,000 and Labour Deficit 2,015,000 Exchanges 191,500 Land Purchase (1.) Land Commission 592,000 (2.) Other Charges 169,000 Constabulary 1,377,500 Collection of Revenue 298,000 11,419,000 Total 11,419,000
Powers of Varying Taxation.
The Bill confers on the Irish Parliament the following financial powers:—
1. It may add to the rates of Excise Duties, Customs Duties on beer and spirits, Stamp Duties (with certain exceptions), Land Taxes, or Miscellaneous Taxes, imposed by the Imperial Parliament.
2. It may add to an extent not exceeding 10 per cent, to the Income Tax, Death Duties, or Customs Duties other than the duties on beer and spirits, imposed by the Imperial Parliament.
3. It may levy any new taxes, other than new Customs Duties.
4. It may reduce any tax levied in Ireland, with the exception of certain Stamp Duties.
The Imperial Treasury will collect the revenue arising from any increases in taxation enacted by the Irish Parliament in the exercise of these powers; and an addition will be made to the Transferred Sum of such amount as the Joint Exchequer Board may determine to be the produce of the additional taxation. Similarly, if taxation, is reduced by the Irish Parliament, a deduction will be made from the Transferred Sum corresponding to the loss of revenue due to the repeal of a tax or to collection at the lower rates.
The Irish Exchequer will therefore gain or lose by any increase or decrease in taxation enacted by the Irish Parliament, and the net revenue of the Imperial Exchequer will remain unaffected by such changes.
If Excise or Customs Duties are imposed at different rates in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, provision is made for the adjustment of the taxes paid in respect of articles passing from one country to the other.
As administrative difficulties might arise in certain cases if the 10 per cent. limitation mentioned above were in terms to prohibit additions to the taxes in question to an extent of more than 10 per cent. of the rates of tax, the Bill effects the object in view by enacting that only such proceeds of the tax as do not exceed 10 per cent. of the yield of the Imperial tax shall be transferred to the Irish Exchequer.
The Bill makes no specific reference to the powers of the Imperial Parliament to levy taxation in Ireland. The provision in clause 1 that the supreme power and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected retains the existing powers of the Imperial Parliament in this regard.
Transfer of the Reserved Services to the Irish Government.
After six years, the control of the Royal Irish Constabulary will pass to the Irish Executive. The Irish Parliament is empowered to assume at any time, with twelve months' notice, legislative and executive control with respect to Old Age Pensions, to National Health Insurance, or to Unemployment Insurance, together with Labour Exchanges. When any such transfer of Reserved Services is effected, the financial burden will be assumed by the Irish Exchequer, and an addition will be made to the Transferred Sum corresponding to the financial relief given to the Imperial Exchequer.
Loans and Capital Liabilities.
Loans made for the purposes of land purchase and loans made before the passing of the Act for other Irish purposes will be among the Reserved Services, and the payment of interest and sinking fund charges will be made by the Imperial Exchequer.
New loans may be raised by the Irish Parliament on the security of the Irish revenue. Provision is also made for enabling the joint Exchequer Board, if so authorised by the Irish Parliament, to issue the loans and to meet the interest and sinking fund charges by means of deductions from the Transferred Sum.
The Bill provides for the apportionment between the two Exchequers of liability for existing loans raised for Irish services.
Readjustment when Financial Equilibrium is reached.
When the total revenue received from Ireland by the Imperial Treasury has been sufficient, during three consecutive years, to meet the total charges for Irish purposes, the Exchequer Board shall report the fact with a view to a revision of the financial arrangements. Since it is impossible now to foresee what services may remain at that time as Reserved Services, what loans may have been contracted during the intervening years, and what changes may have been made in the rates of taxation, the Bill does not attempt to enact the modifications which may then be desirable.
It contemplates, however, as part of the present financial settlement, that Parliament will then consider, on the one hand, the fixing of such contribution by Ireland to the common expenses of the United Kingdom as may be equitable, and, on the other hand, the transfer to the Irish Legislature and Government of the control and collection of such taxes as may be deemed advisable.
The remaining clauses—from 27 to 47—are concerned with readjustments as to judges, civil servants, police and other matters, and do not vary substantially from the corresponding clauses in the Bill of 1893 (published in Appendix D). The first meeting of the Irish Parliament is fixed for the first Tuesday in September, 1913.
There are only two other clauses which require special notice, as adding fresh provisions to those laid down in the Bill of 1893.
The first is the 26th clause, which gives to the Irish special powers of representation at Westminster in the case of a revision of the financial arrangements:—
"For the purpose of revising the financial provisions of this Act in pursuance of this section, there shall be summoned to the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom such number of members of the Irish House of Commons as will make the representation of Ireland in the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom equivalent to the representation of Great Britain on the basis of population; and the members of the Irish House of Commons so summoned shall be deemed to be members of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the purpose of any such revision."
The second—Clause 42—provides that Irish laws shall be interpreted always in legal subordination to Acts of the Imperial Parliament:—
"(2) Where any Act of the Irish Parliament deals with any matter with respect to which the Irish Parliament have power to make laws which is dealt with by any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the passing of this Act and extending to Ireland, the Act of the Irish Parliament shall be read subject to the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and so far as it is repugnant to that Act, but no further, shall be void."
APPENDIX B
THE SHRINKAGE OF IRELAND
(1.) THE DECREASE IN POPULATION SINCE 1841.
- - Year. Population. Decrease. Decrease Great Britain. per cent. Increase per cent. - England. Scotland. - - - 1841 8,196,597 1851 6,574,278 1,622,319 19.8 12.65 10.2 1861 5,798,967 775,311 11.8 11.9 6.0 1871 5,412,377 386,590 6.7 13.21 9.7 1881 5,174,836 237,541 4.4 14.36 11.2 1891 4,704,750 470,086 9.1 11.65 7.8 1901 4,458,775 245,975 5.2 12.17 11.1 1911 4,381,951 76,824 1.7 10.9 6.4 - - -
N.B.—This Table is compiled from the Preliminary Reports of the Census of 1911, which give the population returns only as far back as 1841. There was, of course, a Census of the United Kingdom as early as 1801, but the official returns extended at first only to England and Scotland, and it was not until 1813 that there was any official census of Ireland. Even then it was far from correct. The first trustworthy Irish Census was that of 1821. For 1821 and 1831 the Census figures are given in "Whitaker" as follows:—
1821 6,801,827 1831 7,767,401
It is probable that the apparent rise of the population from 1821 to 1841 amounts to little more than the more correct taking of the Census among an illiterate population. But on the whole subject of the rise of population between 1821 and 1841, see my remarks in Chapter VIII. p. 105. It was due of course very largely to the creation of faggot votes by Protestant landlords desirous of being returned to Parliament under the old law before the passing of Catholic Emancipation in 1829. It was an artificial rise in the poorest section of the population going along with a steady decline in the general material prosperity of Ireland. Hence the great collapse of the famine period.
(2.) IRISH FAMILIES SINCE 1841.
(From Preliminary Census Report, 1911.)
+ Year. Number of Families. + 1841 1,472,787 1851 1,204,319 1861 1,128,300 1871 1,067,598 1881 995,074 1891 932,113 1901 910,256 1911 912,711 First Increase since 1841. +
(3.) INHABITED HOUSES SINCE 1841.
(From same source.)
+ Year. Number of Inhabited Houses. + 1841 1,328,839 1851 1,046,223 1861 995,156 1871 961,380 1881 914,108 1891 870,578 1901 858,158 1911 861,057 First Increase since 1841. +
(4.) EMIGRATION.
For Decennial Periods, 1852-1910.
- Period. Average Number of Per 1,000 of Emigrants, per year. Population. - 1852-9 115,842 15.2 1860-9 85,960 15.2 1870-9 60,327 11.2 1880-9 80,491 16.0 1890-9 44,955 9.7 1900-9 35,886 8.1 1910 32,457 7.4 1911 31,058 7. -
APPENDIX C
TEXT OF THE ACT OF UNION
An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland.—[2d July 1800.]
WHEREAS in pursuance of His Majesty's most gracious Recommendation to the Two Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of such Measures as might best tend to strengthen and consolidate the Connection between the Two Kingdoms, the Two Houses of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Two Houses of the Parliament of Ireland have severally agreed and resolved, that, in order to promote and secure the essential Interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the Strength, Power, and Resources of the British Empire, it will be advisable to concur in such Measures as may best tend to unite the Two Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into One Kingdom, in such Manner, and on such Terms and Conditions, as may be established by the Acts of the respective Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland:
And whereas, in furtherance of the said Resolution, both Houses of the said Two Parliaments respectively have likewise agreed upon certain Articles for effectuating and establishing the said Purposes, in the Tenor following:
ARTICLE FIRST.
[Sidenote: That Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon Jan. 1, 1801, be united into One Kingdom; and that the Titles appertaining to the Crown &c., shall be such as His Majesty shall be pleased to appoint.]
That it be the First Article of the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, that the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon the First Day of January which shall be in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and one, and for ever after, be united into One Kingdom, by the Name of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and that the Royal Stile and Titles appertaining to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom and its Dependencies; and also the Ensigns, Armorial Flags and Banners thereof, shall be such as His Majesty, by His Royal Proclamation under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, shall be pleased to appoint.
ARTICLE SECOND.
[Sidenote: That the Succession to the Crown shall continue limited and settled as at present.]
That it be the Second Article of Union, that the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom, and of the Dominions thereunto belonging, shall continue limited and settled in the same Manner as the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing Laws, and to the Terms of Union between England and Scotland.
ARTICLE THIRD.
[Sidenote: That the United Kingdom be represented in One Parliament.]
That it be the Third Article of Union, that the said United Kingdom be represented in One and the same Parliament, to be stiled The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
ARTICLE FOURTH.
[Sidenote: That the Number of Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and of Commoners herein specified, shall sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.]
That it be the Fourth Article of Union, that Four Lords Spiritual of Ireland by Rotation of Sessions, and Twenty-eight Lords Temporal of Ireland elected for Life by the Peers of Ireland, shall be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and One hundred Commoners (Two for each County of Ireland, Two for the City of Dublin, Two for the City of Cork, One for the University of Trinity College, and One for each of the Thirty-one most considerable Cities, Towns, and Boroughs), be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:
[Sidenote: That such Act as shall be passed in Ireland to regulate the Mode of summoning and returning the Lords and Commoners to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall be considered as Part of the Treaty of the Union.]
That such Act as shall be passed in the Parliament of Ireland previous to the Union, to regulate the Mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament, shall be considered as forming Part of the Treaty of Union, and shall be incorporated in the Acts of the respective Parliaments by which the said Union shall be ratified and established:
Here follow clauses making provision (1) that the House of Lords shall decide all questions of rotation or election in regard to Peers from Ireland, (2) that Irish Peers not sitting in the Lords may be elected to Commons, but loses thereby all privileges of Peerage, (3) that the Crown may create Irish Peerages in proportion of one for each three that become extinct until the Irish Peerage is reduced to 100, when they can go on creating enough to keep up to the 100.
The rest of this article consists of machinery provisions.
ARTICLE FIFTH.
[Sidenote: The Churches of England and Ireland to be united into One Protestant Episcopal Church, and the Doctrine of the Church of Scotland to remain as now established.]
That it be the Fifth Article of Union, That the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by Law established, be united into One Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called, The United Church of England and Ireland; and that the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the said United Church shall be, and shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by Law established for the Church of England; and that the Continuance and Preservation of the said United Church, as the established Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental Part of the Union; and that in like Manner the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the Church of Scotland, shall remain and be preserved as the same are now established by Law, and by the Acts for the Union of the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland.
ARTICLE SIXTH
places Irish subjects under same laws and provisions in regard to trade and navigation prohibitions and bounties, imports and exports, and provides for the gradual abolition of customs duties between Great Britain and Ireland.
ARTICLE SEVENTH
provides that the Irish National Debt shall be kept distinct from the British National Debt. It fixes the proportions of contributions to revenue at 15 for Great Britain as to 2 for Ireland for 20 years. To be revised at the end of 20 years on a variety of alternative bases of calculation (Customs, trade, income, etc.). The contributions to be raised in both countries by taxes fixed by the United Parliament, and Parliament to have power to vary taxes, unify debt, and any Irish surplus to be reduced by reduction of taxation. Loans in future to be common.
ARTICLE EIGHTH
first recites that all present laws to remain in force till repealed. Provides also that these Articles not to become Act until passed by Parliament.
Ends by reciting the measure to be passed through Irish Parliament regulating the representation of Ireland at Westminster after 1801.
APPENDIX D
THE HOME RULE BILLS OF 1886 AND 1893
(1) THE BILL OF 1886.
[Sidenote: A.D. 1886]
A Bill to Amend the provision for the future Government of Ireland.
BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
PART I.
Legislative Authority.
[Sidenote: Establishment of Irish Legislature.]
1. On and after the appointed day there shall be established in Ireland a Legislature consisting of Her Majesty the Queen and an Irish Legislative Body.
[Sidenote: Powers of Irish Legislature.]
2. With the exceptions and subject to the restrictions in this Act mentioned, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen, by and with the advice of the Irish Legislative Body, to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland, and by any such law to alter and repeal any law in Ireland.
[Sidenote: Exceptions from powers of Irish Legislature.]
3. The Legislature of Ireland shall not make laws relating to the following matters or any of them:—
(1.) The status or dignity of the Crown, or the succession to the Crown, or a Regency;
(2.) The making of peace or war;
(3.) The army, navy, militia, volunteers, or other military or naval forces, or the defence of the realm;
(4.) Treaties and other relations with foreign States, or the relations between the various parts of Her Majesty's dominions;
(5.) Dignities or titles of honour;
(6.) Prize or booty of war;
(7.) Offences against the law of nations; or offences committed in violation of any treaty made, or hereafter to be made, between Her Majesty and any foreign State; or offences committed on the high seas;
(8.) Treason, alienage, or naturalization;
(9.) Trade, navigation, or quarantine;
(10.) The postal and telegraph service, except as hereafter in this Act mentioned with respect to the transmission of letters and telegrams in Ireland;
(11.) Beacons, lighthouses, or sea marks;
(12.) The coinage; the value of foreign money; legal tender; or weights and measures; or
(13.) Copyright, patent rights, or other exclusive rights to the use or profits of any works or inventions.
Any law made in contravention of this section shall be void.
[Sidenote: Restrictions on powers of Irish Legislature.]
4. The Irish Legislature shall not make any law—
(1.) Respecting the establishment or endowment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
(2.) Imposing any disability, or conferring any privilege, on account of religious belief; or
(3.) Abrogating or derogating from the right to establish or maintain any place of denominational education or any denominational institution or charity; or
(4.) Prejudicially affecting the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending the religious instruction at that school; or
(5.) Impairing, without either the leave of Her Majesty in Council first obtained on an address presented by the Legislative Body of Ireland, or the consent of the corporation interested, the rights, property, or privileges of any existing corporation incorporated by royal charter or local and general Act of Parliament; or
(6.) Imposing or relating to duties of customs and duties of excise, as defined by this Act, or either of such duties or affecting any Act relating to such duties or any of them; or
(7.) Affecting this Act, except in so far as it is declared to be alterable by the Irish Legislature.
[Sidenote: Prerogatives of Her Majesty as to Irish Legislative Body.]
5. Her Majesty the Queen shall have the same prerogatives with respect to summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the Irish Legislative Body as Her Majesty has with respect to summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the Imperial Parliament.
[Sidenote: Duration of the Irish Legislative Body.]
6. The Irish Legislative Body whenever summoned may have continuance for five years and no longer, to be reckoned from the day on which any such Legislative Body is appointed to meet.
Executive Authority.
[Sidenote: Constitution of the Executive Authority.]
7.—(1.) The Executive Government of Ireland shall continue vested in Her Majesty, and shall be carried on by the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of Her Majesty with the aid of such officers and such council as to Her Majesty may from time to time seem fit.
(2.) Subject to any instructions which may from time to time be given by Her Majesty, the Lord Lieutenant shall give or withhold the assent of Her Majesty to Bills passed by the Irish Legislative Body, and shall exercise the prerogatives of Her Majesty in respect of the summoning, proroguing, and dissolving of the Irish Legislative Body, and any prerogatives the exercise of which may be delegated to him by Her Majesty.
[Sidenote: Use of Crown lands by Irish Government.]
8. Her Majesty may, by Order in Council, from time to time place under the control of the Irish Government, for the purposes of that Government, any such lands and buildings in Ireland as may be vested in or held in trust for Her Majesty.
Constitution of Legislative Body.
[Sidenote: Constitution of Irish Legislative Body.]
9.—(1.) The Irish Legislative Body shall consist of a first and second order.
(2.) The two orders shall deliberate together, and shall vote together, except that, if any question arises in relation to legislation or to the Standing Orders or Rules of Procedure or to any other matter in that behalf in this Act specified, and such question is to be determined by vote, each order shall, if a majority of the members present of either order demand a separate vote, give their votes in like manner as if they were separate Legislative Bodies; and if the result of the voting of the two orders does not agree the question shall be resolved in the negative.
[Sidenote: First order.]
10.—(1.) The first order of the Irish Legislative Body shall consist of one hundred and three members, of whom seventy-five shall be elective members and twenty-eight peerage members.
(2.) Each elective member shall at the date of his election and during his period of membership be bona fide possessed of property which—
(a.) if realty, or partly realty and partly personalty, yields two hundred pounds a year or upwards, free of all charges; or
(b.) if personalty yields the same income, or is of the capital value of four thousand pounds or upwards, free of all charges.
(2.) For the purpose of electing the elective members of the first order of the Legislative Body, Ireland shall be divided into the electoral districts specified in the First Schedule to this Act, and each such district shall return the number of members in that behalf specified in that Schedule.
(3.) The elective members shall be elected by the registered electors of each electoral district, and for that purpose a register of electors shall be made annually.
(4.) An elector in each electoral district shall be qualified as follows, that is to say, he shall be of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity, and shall have been during the twelve months next preceding the twentieth day of July in any year the owner or occupier of some land or tenement within the district of a net annual value of twenty-five pounds or upwards.
(5.) The term of office of an elective member shall be ten years.
(6.) In every fifth year thirty-seven or thirty-eight of the elective members, as the case requires, shall retire from office, and their places shall be filled by election; the members to retire shall be those who have been members for the longest time without re-election.
(7.) The offices of the peerage members shall be filled as follows; that is to say,—
(a.) Each of the Irish peers who on the appointed day is one of the twenty-eight Irish representative peers, shall, on giving his written assent to the Lord Lieutenant, become a peerage member of the first order of the Irish Legislative Body; and if at any time within thirty years after the appointed day any such peer vacates his office by death or resignation, the vacancy shall be filled by the election to that office by the Irish peers of one of their number in manner heretofore in use respecting the election of Irish representative peers, subject to adaptation as provided by this Act, and if the vacancy is not so filled within the proper time it shall be filled by the election of an elective member.
(b.) If any of the twenty-eight peers aforesaid does not within one month after the appointed day give such assent to be a peerage member of the first order, the vacancy so created shall be filled up as if he had assented and vacated his office by resignation.
(8.) A peerage member shall be entitled to hold office during his life or until the expiration of thirty years from the appointed day, whichever period is the shortest. At the expiration of such thirty years the offices of all the peerage members shall be vacated as if they were dead, and their places shall be filled by elective members qualified and elected in manner provided by this Act with respect to elective members of the first order, and such elective members may be distributed by the Irish Legislature among the electoral districts, so, however, that care shall be taken to give additional members to the most populous places.
(9.) The offices of members of the first order shall not be vacated by the dissolution of the Legislative Body.
(10.) The provisions in the Second Schedule to this Act relating to members of the first order of the Legislative Body shall be of the same force as if they were enacted in the body of this Act.
[Sidenote: Second order.]
11.—(1.) Subject as in this section hereafter mentioned, the second order of the Legislative Body shall consist of two hundred and four members.
(2.) The members of the second order shall be chosen by the existing constituencies of Ireland, two by each constituency, with the exception of the city of Cork, which shall be divided into two divisions in manner set forth in the Third Schedule to this Act, and two members shall be chosen by each of such divisions.
(3.) Any person who, on the appointed day, is a member representing an existing Irish constituency in the House of Commons shall, on giving his written assent to the Lord Lieutenant, become a member of the second order of the Irish Legislative Body as if he had been elected by the constituency which he was representing in the House of Commons. Each of the members for the city of Cork, on the said day, may elect for which of the divisions of that city he wishes to be deemed to have been elected.
(4.) If any member does not give such written assent within one month after the appointed day, his place shall be filled by election in the same manner and at the same time as if he had assented and vacated his office by death.
(5.) If the same person is elected to both orders, he shall, within seven days after the meeting of the Legislative Body, or if the Body is sitting at the time of the election, within seven days after the election, elect in which order he will serve, and his membership of the other order shall be void and be filled by a fresh election.
(6.) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, it shall be lawful for the Legislature of Ireland at any time to pass an Act enabling the Royal University of Ireland to return not more than two members to the second order of the Irish Legislative Body in addition to the number of members above mentioned.
(7.) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, it shall be lawful for the Irish Legislature, after the first dissolution of the Legislative Body which occurs, to alter the constitution or election of the second order of that body, due regard being had in the distribution of members to the population of the constituencies; provided that no alteration shall be made in the number of such order.
Clauses 12 to 20 are the Finance Clauses, which are dealt with at the end of this Appendix.
Police.
21. The following regulations shall be made with respect to police in Ireland:
(a.) The Dublin Metropolitan Police shall continue and be subject as heretofore to the control of the Lord Lieutenant as representing Her Majesty for a period of two years from the passing of this Act, and thereafter until any alteration is made by Act of the Legislature of Ireland, but such Act shall provide for the proper saving of all then existing interests, whether as regards pay, pensions, superannuation allowances, or otherwise.
(b.) The Royal Irish Constabulary shall, while that force subsists, continue and be subject as heretofore to the control of the Lord Lieutenant as representing Her Majesty.
(c.) The Irish Legislature may provide for the establishment and maintenance of a police force in counties and boroughs in Ireland under the control of local authorities, and arrangements may be made between the Treasury and the Irish Government for the establishment and maintenance of police reserves.
Clause 22 reserves to the Crown the power of erecting forts, dockyards, etc.
Legislative Body.
[Sidenote: Veto by first order of Legislative Body, how over-ruled.]
23. If a Bill or any provision of a Bill is lost by disagreement between the two orders of the Legislative Body, and after a period ending with a dissolution of the Legislative Body, or the period of three years whichever period is longest, such Bill, or a Bill containing the said provision, is again considered by the Legislative Body, and such Bill or provision is adopted by the second order and negatived by the first order, the same shall be submitted to the whole Legislative Body, both orders of which shall vote together on the Bill or provision, and the same shall be adopted or rejected according to the decision of the majority of the members so voting together.
[Sidenote: Ceaser of power of Ireland to return members to Parliament.]
24. On and after the appointed day Ireland shall cease, except in the event hereafter in this Act mentioned, to return representative peers to the House of Lords or members to the House of Commons, and the persons who on the said day are such representative peers and members shall cease as such to be members of the House of Lords and House of Commons respectively.
Clause 25 refers constitutional questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Clause 26 abolishes religious test for the Lord Lieutenant.
Clauses 27-30 safeguards interests of Judges and Civil Servants.
Clauses 31-36, transitory and miscellaneous.
37. Save as herein expressly provided all matters in relation to which it is not competent for the Irish Legislative Body to make or repeal laws shall remain and be within the exclusive authority of the Imperial Parliament save as aforesaid, whose power and authority in relation thereto shall in nowise be diminished or restrained by anything herein contained.
Clause 38 continues existing laws, courts and officers.
[Sidenote: Mode of alteration of Act.]
39.—(1.) On and after the appointed day this Act shall not, except such provisions thereof as are declared to be alterable by the Legislature of Ireland, be altered except—
(a.) by Act of the Imperial Parliament and with the consent of the Irish Legislative Body testified by an address to Her Majesty, or
(b.) by an Act of the Imperial Parliament for the passing of which there shall be summoned to the House of Lords the peerage members of the first order of the Irish Legislative Body, and if there are no such members then twenty-eight Irish representative peers elected by the Irish peers in manner heretofore in use, subject to adaptation as provided by this Act; and there shall be summoned to the House of Commons such one of the members of each constituency, or in the case of a constituency returning four members such two of those members, as the Legislative Body of Ireland may select, and such peers and members shall respectively be deemed, for the purpose of passing any such Act, to be members of the said Houses of Parliament respectively.
(2.) For the purposes of this section it shall be lawful for Her Majesty by Order in Council to make such provisions for summoning the said peers of Ireland to the House of Lords and the said members from Ireland to the House of Commons as to Her Majesty may seem necessary or proper, and any provisions contained in such Order in Council shall have the same effect as if they had been enacted by Parliament.
Clause 40, definition clause.
Summary of Finance Provisions.
(Clauses 12-20.)
Clause 13. The Irish Parliament is to have the right to impose all taxes except customs and excise.
The Irish Parliament to pay annually to the British Exchequer these sums, fixed at the level for the following 30 years:—
L1,466,000 as interest on the Irish share in the National Debt. 1,666,000 towards the Army and Navy. 110,000 towards the Imperial Civil expenditure. 1,000,000 towards the Irish Constabulary. ————— L4,242,000 in all.
The Irish Exchequer to pay annually L360,000 towards the reduction of the National Debt, and their payment of interest to be reduced in proportion.
If any reduction takes place in Army and Navy to the extent of reducing British proportions below 15 times the Irish, then the Irish to be reduced by 1-15th.
The Irish Government to receive the revenues of Crown Lands in Ireland.
If the Irish Constabulary is reduced, then the Irish contribution towards Constabulary to be reduced accordingly.
Clause 14. The first charge for the Irish contributions to be on the customs and excise collected in Ireland. The rest to go to the Irish Government.
The first charge on other Irish taxes to be (1) any deficit in Irish contribution to British Exchequer, (2) any interest on any Irish debt, (3) Irish public service, (4) Irish judges, etc.
Duty laid upon Irish Government to raise taxes equal to paying these charges.
Clauses 16 and 17. Provisions as to Irish Church Fund and Irish loans (now obsolete).
Clause 18. In case of war Irish Government "may" contribute more money for the prosecution of war.
Clauses 19 and 20. Machinery clauses.
(2) THE BILL OF 1893.
[Sidenote: A.D. 1893.]
A Bill intitled an Act to amend the provision for the Government of Ireland.
WHEREAS it is expedient that without impairing or restricting the supreme authority of Parliament, an Irish Legislature should be created for such purposes in Ireland as in this Act mentioned:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Legislative Authority.
[Sidenote: Establishment of Irish Legislature.]
1. On and after the appointed day there shall be in Ireland a Legislature consisting of Her Majesty the Queen and of two Houses, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.
[Sidenote: Powers of Irish Legislature.]
2. With the exceptions and subject to the restrictions in this Act mentioned, there shall be granted to the Irish Legislature power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland in respect of matters exclusively relating to Ireland or some part thereof. Provided that, notwithstanding anything in this Act contained, the supreme power and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall remain unaffected and undiminished over all persons, matters, and things within the Queen's dominions. |
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