§ MR. HEALYasked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether his attention has been called to the report of the proceedings of the Cork Grand Jury, in the "Cork Herald" of 17th instant, in the matter of Hayes' claim of£80 for malicious injury, in which the conduct of Captain Somerville is impugned, Mr. Barry having said he was not very well satisfied with the malice:
Mr. Dunlea said that where a grand juror had said that he did not consider the injury jury malicious, he would ask that his evidence as to the value should be heard. Captain Somerville—If you interfere any further we will make it£80. Mr. Dunlea—Well, if a grand juror choose to hold out a threat of that kind to an attorney who appears here in the interests of the public, the Grand Jury can now do what they like in the matter; I will retire from it. The Grand Jury then passed the sum of£54 compensation for the injuries done, the amount to be levied off the parish;whether it is the fact that grand jurors have to pay none of the money they thus vote away; that the Presentment Sessions only passed£10, where the Grand Jury gave£54; if the Government can hold out any hope that the tax-paying classes in Ireland, may speedily expect to see the present Grand Jury system exchanged for representative County Boards; whether his attention has been drawn to the report of a case in the same paper, which imputes improper language to Captain Somerville, J.P. in addressing a witness; and, if the reports are substantially true, whether the Government intend to retain, in the Commission of the Peace, a magistrate who has spoken and acted 10 as Captain Somerville has done in these two cases?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)I have seen the report in The Cork Herald. It is not the fact that a grand juror does not pay county cess. Each barony in the county must be represented on the Grand Jury by a freeholder to the yearly value of£50, or leaseholder to the yearly value of£100 over the rent, and must be resident in the barony. He pays the entire county cess on all land in his own hands, and when not excluded by express contract, half the county cess of all his agricultural tenancies created since the 1st of August, 1870. Hayes, who is referred to in the Question of the hon. Member, was what is, unhappily, known as a "Boycotted" farmer. He had a well-bred mare, nearly three years old, which was maliciously stabbed. The presentment sessions found that the outrage was malicious, and assessed the value of the animal at£10, which was increased by the Grand Jury to£54. This presentment has been traversed, and the traverse will be tried by a jury before the Judge of Assize. While the Grand Jury were discussing the amount, the solicitor for the ratepayers interrupted, and Captain Somerville, one of the grand jurors, is reported to have said—"If you interfere any further we will make it£80." Of course, neither that nor another observation referred to in the Question was seriously meant, and might just as well not have been noticed. As to the last paragraph in the hon. Member's Question, it is the Lord Chancellor, and not the Government, who appoints and removes county magistrates in Ireland. The inquiry whether it may be expected that the Grand Jury system will be speedily changed for County Boards should, I apprehend, be addressed to the Prime Minister.
§ MR. HEALYasked, whether it was a fact that the expression used by Captain Somerville was so indecent that the Clerk at the Table would not put it upon the Paper; and, whether, if that was the fact, it was necessary to ask the Lord Chancellor to remove Captain Somerville's name from the list of magistrates?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)said, he was not acting as a magistrate on 11 this occasion, but in the capacity of a grand juror discharging fiscal duties. He thought an expression of this kind should not be used at all; but he scarcely knew whether it was more improper to use it than to have it noticed in the papers.
§ MR. SEXTONasked, was it for any act of his, as a magistrate, that Mr. Parnell had been removed from the Commission of the Peace?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)said, he did not know; but as there was a warrant for treasonable practices against the hon. Member for Cork City, it was impossible for him to remain upon the Commission of the Peace.
§ MR. SEXTONSuspicion.
§ MR. HEALYgave Notice that he would ask the Attorney General for Ireland, at an early date, whether the Government had any intention of removing Captain Somerville from the Commission of the Peace?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)said, he might as well answer the Question at once. The Government did not intend to take action in the matter. Anyone who thought fit could put the Lord Chancellor in motion on the subject.