TYNWALD COURT. (Speeches Marked Thus (*) Have Been Reef Owl by the Speakers.)
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TYNWALD COURT. (Speeches marked thus (*) have been reef owl by the speakers.) DOUGLAS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1899. The Tynwald Court sat to-day, for the first time since the vacation, under the presidency of Sir Alured Dumbell, Deputy-Governor. Thera were present, in the Council, besides the Deputy- Governor, the Lord Bishop (Dr. Straton), Honour Sir James Gall (first. Deemster); the At- torney-General (Mr G. A. Ring); the Receiver- General (Col. Anderson); the Archdeacon (the Rev. H. S. Gill, M.A.); and. the Vicar-General (Mr. Samuel Harris.) In the Keys, there were present, the Speaker (Mr A. W. Moore), Messrs John Joughin, T. Allen, D. Maitland, T. Corlett, 'E. H. Christian, E. T. Christian, F. G. Callow, J. D. °Incas, T. Clague, J. Qualtrough, Quayle, J. C. CreIli% R. Corlett, W. J. Kormode, W. Quine, J. J. Goldsmith, J. T. Cowell, J. A. Myken, T, Mylohreest, and J. R. Kerruish. DEATH 01 D.L..cd-uSTER GILL. The Deputy-Governor said: My Lord His:lop and members of the Council Mr Speaker and gentlemen of the House of Keys. This being he first occasion upon which this Court has met s;nce the lamented death of the late Deemstor Gill, I think it is right and proper that we should take some steps to mark our appreciation of his worth and of the value of the services he rendered to the Legislature, and our :sympathy with his widow and his family in their trouble. It is not necessary for me io repeat over again I.ere what has lately been said so well and so often in other places. It is the less necessary for me to do so, because his Honour the late Deemster was known individually to every one of you. It is as a. member of the Legislature that we are now dealing with his worth: and as a member of the Legislature he was necessarily known to you all. I will, therefore, content myself with saying that you all know how unwearying, indus- trious, and able a member of this Court he was— never sparing hilymelf in any way—taking upon himself any burden or any labour the Court Death of Demnster Gil]. 2 TYNWALD COURT, November 7, l899. chose to put on him. (Hear, hear.) • oily now call upon his Lordship to move a resolM.ion on the subject. The Lord Bishop: The resolution which I hare the honour to propose runs as follows:— That his Excellency the Deputy-governor be respectfully requested to cause an appreciative and sympathetic letter to he addres€ed to Airs Gill conveying to her the sense which this Court re. tains of the late Deemster'e work, and of the value of his services to the Legislature and the people of this Island. I cannot, in moving this resolution, refrain fr,m adding a few words to those which have fallen from his Excellency's lips. I am sure there is not a single member of this Court will hesitate cue single moment to re-echo what I have said when I say that the worth of the late Deemster tisil was deeply appreciated by every member of both houses of the Legislature. You have only to look at the list which we have before us to-day--the long list of committees on which the late Deem. ster served, and I am quite sure you wi:1 agree with me when I say that not only was he a lair, painstaking, conscientious man, but he never spared himself in the public service. I am rather of opinion that he did not. spare himself as much as he ought to have done. He was always willing to serve on any committee, and nowhere in the Island will his loss be more deeply felt than this Legislature. I have spoken of his pri:':Ve worth in other places, and I am not going to enlarge upon that topic to-day. I am quite cer- tain that the Isle of Man mourns the late Deem Any in a way that is not very easy to describe. We have lost a valuable, excellent, public servant —one who, as his Excellency remarked, was a personal friend to us all—and I think the lea.d we can do is to ask his Excellency the Deputy- Governor if he will kindly write s letter whi.?ii will in some degree express our feelings of re.get on this subject. (Kens, hear.) Speaker : I beg, my Lord 13ishop, to second your motion, and to endorse what you have sa.d. So ranch has been said about our friend, the late Deemster Gill, and it has been so well said, that it is very difficult to add anything to it. We [IA know what a patriot he was—bow many and eonstant were his efforts to promote the good ,,f this Island generally, and, as regards this Court in particular, if we needed an object lesson, which we do not, to show how large a port he tock in its work, the agenda paper of to-day amply supplies it. Death of Deemster Gill. TYNWALD COUR November 7, 1899. 3 It is no exaggeration to say that, during i:i last 15 years, he was chairman of most of the committees appointed by this Court for various purposes. In this capacity, and in his capacity as chairman of the Local Government Board, he was constantly brought in contact with memi,ers of the House of Keys, who, owing to his invari- al,ie courtesy, his patience, and his sound. com- mon reuse, have ever found him a most valuable and acceptable colleague. We regarded him with respect and affection. and we unile with Excellency and the members of the Council in mourning his premature death. The vote was carried unaniinously--ihe Cowl. upstanding. CONGRATULATIONS TO TBE DEPUTY GOVERNOR. The Lord Bishop: I rise again to move thai the congratulations of this Court should be ac• corded to his Excellency Sir Attired Dumbell, oa the very honourable position in which he appears before us to-day. We all deeply regret; the pro- longed illness of Lord .Henniker, and I feel he has only taken the right step in hiking measures in order that his place may be filled. We art arriving at an important period of the year, and it is very desirable that any business which is to be attended to snould be attended to without delay in order that we may have no more trouole when we arrive at the 5th July, and I am quite satisfied that no more able businees man could lie selected for the post. of Deputy-Governor than Sir Alured Dumbell. I, therefore. beg to more that the congratulations of the Court be ad- dressed to Sir Alured Dumbell, and an expression of the hope that Lord Renniker's health may be speedily restored. The Speaker : I beg to second the motion. The motion was put by the Lord Bishop, and carried unanimously- The Deputy-Governor: My Lord, you have just referred to the stale of his Excellency's health—of course ynu will all know that that is the cause of my presiding here io-day—I think you will all be glad, as I am glad, to know 'hat his health really is improving—(hear, hear)— improving very much: and I believe it would have improved still more if it had not been for his great anxiety to return to the Island un take up his work here before be was fit to attempt it. But I had the opportunity of Congratulations to the Deputy-Governor. 4 TYNWALD COURT, November 7, 1899. perusing a written report from his very able and eminent physician who is attending him, and in which he predicts, without any shadow of doubt, his complete restoration to a proper state of health. (Rear, hear.) I, therefore, hope that my tenure of office will only be brief. 'While it lasts I can promise you I will try to do what is right. (Hear, hear.) Of course, I may say at once, I am at a considerable disadvantage, coming in without any special knowledge of the position of affairs and of what. legislation is really required. I am not in a position to state that till I have had time to study it—I am not yet a. week old. But, of course, one sees that. the time is very late now to determine what. new legislation there is to be, and, having determined that, then you will have to have Bills drafted and prepared, and then passed by both branches of the Legislature, and all that takes a very considerable amount of time. If I had-been appointed a month sooner, no doubt we could have gone into a great deal more; but I simply wish to impress upon you that at this late time of the year it would not be a wise thing to attempt too much—not as much as we otherwise might attempt. Therefore, in- stead of attempting anything like an ambitious programme, I feel that our best course now would be to modify it very considerably, and simply frame and attempt to carry through satisfactorily a very modest programme. I will enumerate later on in my remarks the position of legislation before either 'branch of the Legislature, and also What new legislation is proposed, and put yuu in possession, as far as I am able, of the various facts relating to the position of business generally. At this point, one thing occurs to my mind which is not strictly within the category we are dis- .cussing, but it has given rise to considerable uneasiness in the minds of persons interested, and has been a good deal discussed in public.