On Thursday week, there was an all-night sitting on the
Light Railways (Ireland) Bill. It was not denied that the Government had introduced the Bill in deference to the wish of the Parnellite Membeis, and that it was hoped that
it would very much alleviate the hardships likely to be caused by the potato-disease in Mayo and elsewhere. But in spite of this, Mr. Healy and a few other Members kept dividing the House, with (generally) only a dozen or fourteen Members on their side, with the apparent intention of defeating the Bill. Oddly enough, after wasting all the time he could, Mr. Healy charged the Government with insincerity, and with a wish not to read the Bill a third time, at the very close of the debate, after 6 o'clock on Friday morning. Yet the third reading was carried by 73 to 12. We suppose that the obstructors really wished only to show their power, but not actually to defeat the Bill, which Irish constituencies so heartily desire. Even when they do not *mean business, the obstructors seem to dread any surrender of their power to torment the House of Commons. Like Petit Andre and Trois Echelles, in "Quentin Durward," they like a little practice, even when it is not serious, just to keep their hands in.
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