§ MR. T. M. HEALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that on 13th August the two lay Sub-Commissioners sat for land cases at Athy without the legal Commissioner, who was absent through illness in his family, 1335 and that the professional gentlemen engaged in the cases protested against the arrangement; can he explain why the Chief Commissioner did not send a substitute for the legal Commissioner; is there any precedent for the two lay members of a Sub-Commission deciding legal questions by themselves; and, will steps be taken to prevent a recurrence of this practice when fatality prevents the legal Sub-Commissioner acting?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Land Commissioners report that in the unavoidable absence of the legal Sub-Commissioner, Mr. Kane, two lay Sub-Commissioners attached to his Commission sat to hear cases under a special delegation at Athy on the 13th inst. The Chief Commissioners did not send a substitute for Mr. Kane, as no other legal Sub-Commissioner was available at the time. The two lay members were not authorised to hear cases involving legal questions, which they were directed to postpone until they were joined by a legal Sub-Commissioner. This course has been frequently adopted under similar circumstances. There is nothing either in the Act or the rules to render necessary the presence of the legal member of the Sub-Commission.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYIs the right Ion. Gentleman aware that great dissatisfaction has been created among practitioners in consequence of the appointment of two lay Commissioners only?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThat could not be so in a case where the arrangement was entirely by the consent of the parties concerned.