on a vote of 41 in favour and 419 against. Contents The bill proposed: Legislature A bicameral Irish parliament to control domestic affairs, made up of a Legislative Council and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council would have 48 councillors, elected for eight-year terms in two cohorts at four-year intervals. The franchise would be based on a £20 property qualification, higher than the £10 qualification of the Assembly. The constituencies would be the three largest parliamentary boroughs (Dublin, Belfast, and Cork) and the 32 counties, except that County Cork was divided into East and West Ridings, and Counties Sligo and Leitrim were combined. Most constituencies would elect one member; the more populous, two or three. The Legislative Assembly would have 103 members, elected for a maximum of five years, with potential for earlier dissolution. The constituencies would be those previously used for Westminster, though the bill would reduce and redraw the Westminster constituencies. The initial franchise would be as for Westminster elections, but the parliament would have the right to alter this. Disagreement between the houses would be resolved after two years by majority vote of the members of the two houses voting together. Executive An executive under the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland would form the Executive Committee of the Privy Council of Ireland. The new executive would not be responsible to the Irish parliament and the bill did not provide for a prime minister. This did not in practice mean that the executive would not be answerable to the assembly, nor did it mean that there would be no prime minister. Contemporary British enactments for the dominions contained exactly the same provisions. However, in reality governments became answerable almost immediately, and, as in the case of Canada's Constitution Act, 1867, a prime ministerial office evolved early on, even if not mentioned anywhere in law. Irish MPs in Westminster Whereas the First Home Rule Bill provided for no Irish MPs at Westminster, the 1893 Bill allowed for the eighty Irish MPs to sit in Westminster; this would have been a reduction from the 103 MPs who were then in the United Kingdom House of Commons. Passed by the Commons, defeated in the Lords The Bill's second reading was passed by the House of Commons on 21 April 1893 by 347 votes to 304; the final (third) reading was passed on 1 September 1893 by 301 to 267. However, in the