§ MR. BIGGARasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention has been called to the manner in which the annual election of Poor Law Guardians for Cromae Ward, in the Borough of Belfast, has been conducted for the present year; if it be true, as disclosed in evidence before the magistrates at petty sessions, in Belfast, on the 13th May instant, that the police man entrusted with the delivery and collection of voting papers at said elec- 1314 tion was guilty of grave neglect in the discharge of his duty, by failing to collect voting papers in the houses of several of the streets in which he had laid them down, and in other districts having called at the residence of the voters at ten or eleven o'clock at night, when many of them had retired to bed; if it be true that the policeman in company with Mr. James R. Christian, one of the successful candidates, under their system of election, entered a public-house in the said ward, and partook of refreshments, and whilst thus regaling themselves, is it true that the parcel of collected voting papers then in the constable's possession were opened, examined, and altered by the said Mr. Christian, or one of his agents, who was also present; and, if any or all of those assumptions be accurate, will he take into consideration the form in which the last election for the Poor Law Guardians for Cromae was conducted?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. LAW)Since my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary for Ireland replied to a previous Question on this subject, we have received a Report in reference to it from the Inspector General of Constabulary. It appears that certain allegations having been made against the sub-constable affecting his conduct in the distribution and collection of the Poor Law voting papers in the Cromae Ward, the Inspector General directed that charges of neglect in the performance of this duty should be framed against him and brought before the magistrates, under 6 Will. IV. c. 13, s. 19, for adjudication. These charges were fully investigated by the magistrates on the 13th instant, and after a careful and protracted inquiry they acquitted the sub-constable. It was not proved that he partook of refreshments from the candidate, Mr. Christian, in a public-house; and there was no charge or even suggestion before the magistrates that the voting papers wore in any way tampered or interfered with. This imputation has now been made for the first time in the Question of the hon. Member. My right hon. Friend has already stated that the Local Government Board do not think that the case is one for the exercise of their powers of inquiry under the 23rd section of 6 & 7 Vict. c. 92; and it appears to me that the Report of 1315 the Constabulary authorities does not disclose any new facts requiring further investigation.