§ MR. PLUNKETasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware that a protest has been made to the Irish Land Commission on behalf of all the landowners in the Union of Castletown, Berehaven, in the county of Cork, against the appointment of Mr. John George M'Carthy as a Sub-Commissioner for that district, on the following grounds, viz. that Mr. 1777 John George M'Carthy, before his appointment as such Sub-Commissioner, practised as a solicitor in the county of Cork; that he had many clients amongst the tenant farmers of the district of Castletown, Berehaven; that one of such clients was Michael M'Carthy, chairman of the local Land League; and that the son of Michael M'Carthy served his apprenticeship, as a solicitor, to the Mr. John George M'Carthy, and is now solicitor in every instance to the tenants whose cases will come before the Sub-Commission; and, whether, under these circumstances, he will suggest to the Irish Land Commission the advisability of making some other arrangement as to the Sub-Commission for the said district?
COLONEL COLTHUESTsaid, that, before the Chief Secretary for Ireland answered the Question, he wished to ask whether it was not the fact that Mr. J. G. M'Carthy had given great satisfaction as sub-coroner, and whether the Chief Secretary, from his knowledge of the character and antecedents of Mr. M'Carthy, did not consider him incapable of being influenced by the grounds mentioned?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, I have seen the remonstrance referred to in the Question of the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for the University of Dublin. I should have been glad if the Land Commissioners could have seen their way at once to have complied with it, and to have detached the Union of Castletown, Berehaven, from the Kerry Sub-Commission, and with that object the matter was pressed on the attention of the Land Commissioners, whose action, however, is, as the House knows, entirely independent of the Government, and they have informed me that it is not possible at present to recast the Sub-Commissioners' districts or alter the dates of the sittings, for which the regular notices have been served. Next Circuit Mr. M'Carthy will probably be transferred to another district. At the same time, I must, injustice to Mr. M'Carthy, say that the Commissioners state that the fullest reliance may be placed on his capacity and his integrity, and I am confident that he is not in the remotest degree likely to be swayed by any of the circumstances mentioned in the Question. From the time of his appointment as a Sub-Commissioner he has been entirely discon- 1778 nected from his former profession, and until he was removed by the Land Commissioners to the Kerry district was engaged in the County Mayo.