COLONEL STUART KNOXsaid, he would beg to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether, in the opinion of the Government, the Report of the Commissioners who were appointed to inquire into the conduct of the Tyrone Magistrates has completely exonerated them from the charge of partiality, favour, and affection in the execution of their duty on the occasion referred to by Judge Keogh at the Lent Assizes at Omagh; and, as the Commissioners report that the Magistrates appear to have been misled by instructions issued by former Governments, what course will now be taken in regard to these instructions?
LORD NAASreplied that the Commissioners made in their Report the following statement:—
We think the justices were in error in dismissing the charge against the other defendants in the first summons; that they should have returned them for trial for the offences charged; but we think that in making their decision, they acted to the best of their judgment, and were not influenced by improper motives. They stated to us that it was with regret they felt that they had not the power to return both parties for trial.He thought, after the perusal of that Report and the evidence given, no one could come to any other conclusion than that the magistrates acted in the case in no degree from feelings of partiality or favour, and so far as he was concerned he entirely concurred in the opinion of the Commissioners. With respect to the second portion of the Question, as to the code of instructions issued to the magistrates, he must say that he had always felt a great objection to the issue, by the executive Government, of instructions to magistrates as to the mode in which they ought to perform a particular portion of their duties. The best code was, in his opinion, the statute book read by the light of their own good sense and experience, and the Government were therefore considering whether it would not be advisable to withdraw the code of instructions in question, as well as other codes sent to magistrates. He hoped, he might add, that the Government would be able to come to a decision favourable to that course.