§ MR. W. J. CORBETasked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether persons appointed to issue licences to have and carry arms under "The Peace Preservation (Ireland) Act, 1881," are bound by the Act to grant a licence to any person applying for it on the production of a certificate signed by two justices of the peace for the county that he is a fit and proper person to have such licence; and, whether the Law has not been violated in several cases by magistrates refusing to grant licences to persons who were furnished with the necessary certificates?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)Sir, the licensing officer is not required by the Peace Preservation Act, 1881, to grant a licence to any person applying for it on the production of a certificate signed by two justices of the peace for the county that he is a fit and proper person to have such licence. The Act provides that the licence shall be granted to an agricultural occupier producing to the licensing officer a certificate signed by two county magistrates, residing in the same petty sessions district as the applicant, that the applicant is, to their own personal knowledge, a fit and proper person to have such licence. I am not 776 aware that the law has been violated in any case by magistrates refusing to grant licences to persons furnished with the certificates by law required.