The Report Stage of the Home Rule Bill was continued
in the Commons on Tuesday, when an interesting amendment was made in the clause dealing with the method of election to the Irish House of Commons. Sir Alfred Mond moved that in any constituency returning three or more mem- bers the election should be made on the principle of proportional representation. This provision, he explained. would apply to 31 out of the 164 members of the Irish House, and it was believed that if it were adopted the constituencies concerned would return 16 Nationalists and 15 Unionists instead of 19 Nationalists and 12 Unionists. After Mr. Redmond had announced that he would not resist the amendment, the Prime Minister gave the Government's consent to it. He explained, however, that he did not speak as a disciple of proportional representation, but only regarded the proposal as "an attempt to deal with a particular case for a particular purpose." He felt especially that it would secure better representation for the Unionist minorities in the South of Ireland. The amendment was opposed by Major Morrison Bell, but was eventually carried by a majority of 230 (311 to 81). On Wednesday and Thursday the discussion of the financial and some other clauses of the Bill was con- tinued.
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