HC Deb 23 March 1877 vol 233 cc375-6
MR. M'CARTHY DOWNING

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether Mr. Hunt Walshe Chambre, grand secretary of the Orange societies of Tyrone, whose name appears in the list of magistrates for the county of Tyrone for the present year, is the same individual who was three times prosecuted at Stewartstown petty sessions for heading an unlawful armed assembly at Coalisland, in said county, on the 24th June, 1873; and, if he is, was he appointed after said trials, and when; is the Mr. Hunt Walshe Chambre who lately filed a petition for arrangement with his creditors under the Bankruptcy Act the same gentleman as the magistrate before referred to; was the first prosecution not at the suit of Mr. Hutchinson, sub-inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary; did not Colonel Caulfield preside as a magistrate on that occasion, and state— that the party had assembled with his knowledge and implied sanction, and that if he was to send the case forward for trial he felt that he would be simply trying to shift the responsibility from his own shoulders to that of others, which he had no notion of doing; did not the then Attorney General direct a second prosecution, which was conducted by Moore the local Crown solicitor, and did he not call on Colonel Caulfield not to preside in consequence of the declaration made by him as stated, and did he not, notwithstanding, preside, take part in the proceeding, and form one of the majority against returning informations; did not Colonel Caulfield on the third trial also preside, and vote as before; and, is he still in the commission of the peace; and, if so, will the Chief Secretary lay the whole circumstances before the Lord Chancellor of Ireland?

SIR MICHAEL HICKS - BEACH

Sir, considering its style and the number of separate questions this Question comprises, I might be inclined to call it a Catechism rather than a Question. Still, I will do my best to reply to it, and if not fully, it will be because I feel that it would be highly improper in an answer to a Question, to enter upon controversial matter. Mr. Chambre was appointed a magistrate of county Tyrone in November, 1876. Since that time he has, I believe, filed a Petition under the Bankruptcy Act. I believe he is the same person who was twice prosecuted at the sessions for the share he took in the proceedings at Coalisland in the summer of 1873, but it would not be fair to describe those proceedings on his Dart as heading an unlawful armed assembly. I do not wish, however, to enter further into it for the reason I have stated. The two prosecutions in question were at the suit of the local Inspector of Constabulary. On both occasions the bench of magistrates—of whom Colonel Caulfield was one—unanimously decided against returning the informations. I know of no reason why any of those circumstances, relating as they do to matters which occurred nearly four years ago, of a nature which I think it would be much better now to pass over instead of attempting to revive a bad feeling by recalling them—I know no reason whatever why those circumstances should be brought before the attention of the Lord Chancellor for Ireland. With regard to the continuance or otherwise of Mr. Chambre in the commission of the peace that will materially depend, I apprehend, on the issue of the Bankruptcy proceedings.

MR. M'CARTHY DOWNING

I desire to give Notice that I will, on the earliest opportunity, call attention to the conduct of the magistrates of Tyrone in respect to this matter.