§ LORD ARTHUR HILLasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware that Mr. Wyllie, Chairman of the Sub-Commissioners for Tyrone, still has his name on the North-West Circuit List; that he only holds his appointment for one year, and intends resuming practice as a bar- 808 rister, in nine months' time, in that district in which he now sits as judge; and, whether Mr. Wyllie will, in consequence, have to receive briefs from those solicitors who are now pleading before him in his capacity as judge; whether he is aware that Mr. Cuninghame, another Sub-Commissioner in the same district, is a partner in a seed and manure firm, having large business relations with the tenantry in this district, and that his traveller, Mr. Tatton, was soliciting orders in Castlederg, on behalf of the firm, on the same day that he was sitting in that town in his capacity of Sub-Commissioner; and, whether he will consider how far it is fair to those gentlemen to place them in the invidious position of judges in a district in which they have present and prospective business relations? The noble Lord said that, since he had put his Question on the Paper, he had ascertained that Mr. Cuninghame was a partner, not in a seed and manure firm, but in a corn merchant's or meal and flour firm.
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, Mr. Wylie informs me that he still has his name on the North-West Circuit List, and that on his ceasing to be an Assistant Commissioner, he intends to resume practice as a barrister on that Circuit. As to Mr. Cuninghame, the alteration in the noble Lord's Question is one of some importance. He has no business relations whatever with any of the tenantry of the district. He is not aware of any traveller of his firm having been in any town while he was sitting in it. Under these circumstances, I think the final paragraph of the Question does not require further answer.