§ MR. MATTHEW KENNY (Tyrone, Mid)asked the Solicitor General for Ireland if the Lord Chancellor has had under his consideration certain letters addressed to him by Mr. James H. 696 M'Kelvey, of Mountjoy, Omagh, touching an alleged outrage by Mr. Samuel M'Keown, a Justice of the Peace for Tyrone; if it is a fact that Stewart, who claims to be the injured party, is practically prevented from seeking the ordinary legal remedy in such cases, by reason of the fact that he is in part dependent upon Mr. M'Keown as a cottier tenant, and again could only prosecute his case before a Bench of Magistrates of whom Mr. M'Keown would be one; and if, in the circumstances, the Lord Chancellor will reconsider his decision, and investigate the charge made before this Justice of the Peace?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN,) Dublin UniversityI am informed that the Lord Chancellor of Ireland received a letter from Mr. M'Kelvey alleging that Mr. M'Keown, J.P., had poisoned a dog belonging to Stewart, and that the Lord Chancellor stated in reply that the ordinary tribunals provided by law had ample power to investigate and deal with that complaint; that the special jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor over magistrates cannot be used in aid of, or as auxiliary to, legal proceedings between individuals, and that it was undesirable that the Lord Chancellor should interfere to the prejudice of either party. There does not appear to be any reason to prevent Stewart from taking his ordinary legal remedy; nor is it the fact that the magistrate concerned would be one of the Bench. The Lord Chancellor sees no ground to alter the decision he has arrived at in the matter.