PIeads of Scheme.
8.
Assent to Bills.
Royal assent to be given or withheld as set out in Act (sect.
7).
9.
Constitution of the House of Lords.
(1) Lord Chancellor ...
...
i (2) Four Archbishops or Bishops of the
Roman Catholic Church ...
4 (3) Two Archbishops or Bishops of the
Church of Ireland ...
...
2 (4) The Moderator of the General
Assembly ...
..
...
i (5) The Lord Mayors of Dublin, Bel¬
fast and Cork ...
...
3 (6) Thirty-nine Temporal Lords ...
39
13
50
10.
Constitution of House of Commons.
The Irish House of Commons to consist of 168 members—162 elected by constituencies similar to those set out in the memorandum of the Irish Trades Union Congress, and two each by Dublin University, the National University and the Queen's University.
The principle of proportional representation with a single transferable vote to be observed wherever a constituency returns three or more members, and no constituency to return more than seven.
During the first ten years of the Irish House of Commons twelve additional members to be nominated to represent the industries, commerce and trade of the North-east of Ireland, and twelve to represent the Southern Unionists.
The House of Commons to continue for five years unless previously dissolved.
Provisional Conclusions.
Is accepted, subject to a preference being expressed for the reservation of Bills instead of their postponement.
The title of Senate was prefened to that of House of Lords.
The following modification of the proposals in the scheme was provisionally approved: —
Constitution of Senate.
Lord Chancellor Archbishops or Bishops of the Roman
Catholic Church Archbishops or Bishops of the Church
of Ireland Moderator of the General Assembly Lord Mayors of Dublin, Belfast and
Cork ...
Peers resident in Ireland Privy Councillors Representatives of Commerce nomi
nated by Lord Lieutenant Labour Representatives (1 from each
province)
1 4 2 1 3 15 15 15 4 Total 60 It was suggested that the Secretary of the General Assembly might be added.
In that event it was intimated that an addition to the number of Roman Catholic Bishops would be expected.
It was also suggested that the Privy Coun¬ cillors selected should be of two or three years' standing.
The size of the Senate must be considered in relation to the size of the Lower House, and it was subsequently considered that if the Lower House came down to 100 or 120 members it might be convenient to reduce the Senate to 40 members.
This would involve a reconsideration of the details of the above scheme.
It was agreed that the members of the Upper House should be nominated for, say, seven years.
It was agreed that the Unionists should be offered, by effective means, a proportion of forty per cent, in the Lower House; and that in the Upper House of, say, forty, thirty should be men with a substantial stake in the country.
The exact method of arriving at this result was left for further consideration, but it was agreed that it could only be obtained by including a substantial number of nominated members.
It was suggested that, in order to reduce to a mini¬ mum this undemocratic element in the House, the size of the House should be smaller than that proposed in the scheme.
It wTas stipulated that the nominated element in the Lower House should continue for not less than ten years.
Lord Midleton suggested that, on the dis¬ appearance of this nominated element, an addi¬ tion should be made to the numbers of the Upper House.
This might be done and was reserved for further consideration.
K.B.—The
interim Report of the Sub-Com¬ mittee of Nine stated that after these provisional conclusions had been arrived at (lih Nov.),
it was considered desirable that the Ulster representa¬ tives should communicate with their Advisory Committee with a view to discovering how far the arrangement proposed with regard to the composi¬ tion of the two Houses of 'Parliament was likely to prove acceptable.
Having taken this course,
