Present Irish Questions Part 10

(2) Each elective member shall at the date of his election and during his period of members.h.i.+p 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.

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 a.s.sent 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 a.s.sent to be a peerage member of the first order, the vacancy so created shall be filled up as if he had a.s.sented and vacated his office by resignation.

(8) A peerage member shall be ent.i.tled 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 place.

(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 const.i.tuencies of Ireland, two by each const.i.tuency, 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 const.i.tuency in the House of Commons shall, on giving his written a.s.sent to the Lord-Lieutenant, become a member of the second order of the Irish Legislative Body as if he had been elected by the const.i.tuency 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 a.s.sent 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 a.s.sented 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 members.h.i.+p 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 pa.s.s 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 const.i.tution or election of the second order of that body, due regard being had in the distribution of members to the population of the const.i.tuencies; provided that no alteration shall be made in the number of such order.

_Finance._

[Sidenote: Taxes and separate Consolidated Fund.]

=12.=--(1) For the purpose of providing for the public service of Ireland, the Irish Legislature may impose taxes, other than duties of Customs or Excise as defined by this Act, which duties shall continue to be imposed and levied by and under the direction of the Imperial Parliament only.

(2) On and after the appointed day there shall be an Irish Consolidated Fund separate from the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.

(3) All taxes imposed by the Legislature of Ireland and all other public revenues under the control of the Government of Ireland shall, subject to any provisions touching the disposal thereof contained in any Act pa.s.sed in the present session respecting the sale and purchase of land in Ireland, be paid into the Irish Consolidated Fund, and be appropriated to the public service of Ireland according to law.

[Sidenote: Annual contributions from Ireland to Consolidated Fund of United Kingdom.]

=13.=--(1) Subject to the provisions for the reduction or cesser thereof in this section mentioned, there shall be made on the part of Ireland to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom the following annual contributions in every financial year; that is to say,--

(_a_) The sum of _one million four hundred and sixty-six thousand pounds_ on account of the interest on and management of the Irish share of the National Debt:

(_b_) The sum of _one million six hundred and sixty-six thousand pounds_ on account of the expenditure on the army and navy of the United Kingdom:

(_c_) The sum of _one hundred and ten thousand pounds_ on account of the Imperial civil expenditure of the United Kingdom:

(_d_) The sum of _one million pounds_ on account of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police.

(2) During the period of _thirty years_ from this section taking effect the said annual contributions shall not be increased, but may be reduced or cease as hereinafter mentioned. After the expiration of the said _thirty years_ the said contributions shall, save as otherwise provided by this section, continue until altered in manner provided with respect to the alteration of this Act.

(3) The Irish share of the National Debt shall be reckoned at _forty-eight million pounds_ Bank annuities, and there shall be paid in every financial year on behalf of Ireland to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt an annual sum of _three hundred and sixty thousand pounds_, and the permanent annual charge for the National Debt on the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom shall be reduced by that amount, and the said annual sum shall be applied by the said Commissioners as a sinking fund for the redemption of the National Debt, and the Irish share of the National Debt shall be reduced by the amount of the National Debt so redeemed, and the said annual contribution on account of the interest on and management of the Irish share of the National Debt shall from time to time be reduced by a sum equal to the interest upon the amount of the National Debt from time to time so redeemed, but that last-mentioned sum shall be paid annually to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt in addition to the above-mentioned annual sinking fund, and shall be so paid and be applied as if it were part of that sinking fund.

(4) As soon as an amount of the National Debt equal to the said Irish share thereof has been redeemed under the provisions of this section, the said annual contribution on account of the interest on and management of the Irish share of the National Debt, and the said annual sum for a sinking fund shall cease.

(5) If it appears to Her Majesty that the expenditure in respect of the army and navy of the United Kingdom, or in respect of Imperial Civil expenditure of the United Kingdom, for any financial year has been less than _fifteen_ times the amount of the contributions above named on account of the same matter, a sum equal to _one-fifteenth_ part of the diminution shall be deducted from the current annual contribution for the same matter.

(6) The sum paid from time to time by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom on account of the hereditary revenues of the Crown in Ireland shall be credited to the Irish Government, and go in reduction of the said annual contribution payable on account of the Imperial Civil expenditure of the United Kingdom, but shall not be taken into account in calculating whether such diminution as above mentioned has or has not taken place in such expenditure.

(7) If it appears to Her Majesty that the expenditure in respect of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police for any financial year has been less than the contribution above-named on account of such constabulary and police, the current contribution shall be diminished by the amount of such difference.

(8) This section shall take effect from and after the _thirty-first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven_.

[Sidenote: Collection and application of Customs and Excise duties in Ireland.]

=14.=--(1) On and after such day as the Treasury may direct all moneys from time to time collected in Ireland on account of the duties of Customs or the duties of Excise as defined by this Act shall, under such regulations as the Treasury from time to time make, be carried to a separate account (in this Act referred to as the Customs and Excise account) and applied in the payment of the following sums in priority as mentioned in this section; that is to say,--

First, of such sum as is from time to time directed by the Treasury in respect of the costs, charges, and expenses of and incident to the collection and management of the said duties in Ireland not exceeding four per cent. of the amount collected there;

Secondly, of the annual contributions required by this Act to be made to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom;

Thirdly, of the annual sums required by this Act to be paid to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt;

Fourthly, of all sums by this Act declared to be payable out of the moneys carried to the Customs and Excise account;

Fifthly, of all sums due to the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom for interest or sinking fund, in respect of any loans made by the issue of bank annuities or otherwise to the Government of Ireland under any Act pa.s.sed in the present session relating to the purchase and sale of land in Ireland, so far as such sums are not defrayed out of the moneys received under such Act.

(2) So much of the moneys carried to a separate account under this section as the Treasury consider are not, and are not likely to be, required to meet the above-mentioned payments, shall from time to time be paid over and applied as part of the public revenues under the control of the Irish Government.

[Sidenote: Charges on Irish Consolidated Fund.]

=15.=--(1) There shall be charged on the Irish Consolidated Fund in priority as mentioned in this section:--