The House of Commons has spent the week in discussing
the Home Rule Bill in Committee. But in view of the monstrous closure regulations that are now in force we feel that to give any full account of the strangled and unreal debate would be useless. We shall therefore limit ourselves to mentioning one or two of its salient points. On Monday the Government accepted an amendment for excluding from the purview of the Irish Parliament matters affecting Trinity College or Queen's University, Belfast. Immediately the proposal was made Mr. Redmond announced that, though it was an insult to Irishmen, he did not mean to resist it; and shortly afterwards Mr. Birrell accordingly accepted it on behalf of the Government. A similar amendment for excepting from the Bill labour legislation, and another intended to secure the use of English in Irish parliamentary proceedings were rejected by the Government. The second clause was completed on Tuesday.
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