HC Deb 19 March 1883 vol 277 cc793-5
MR. CALLAN

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been called to the charges delivered in the course of last week to the grand juries of county Clare at Ennis, on Tuesday, when, as reported in the Dublin "Freeman's Journal" of March 7th, Lord Justice Fitz-Gibbon told the grand jury that drunkenness in county Clare had increased from 960 to 1,511 cases (nearly 60 per cent); of county Tipperary, at Nenagh, on the same day, when, as reported in the Dublin "Irish Times" of March 7th, Mr. Baron Dowse said the cases of drunkenness in the North Riding of Tipperary had risen from 512 to 1,037 (over 100 per cent); of county Cavan, on Wednesday, when, as reported in the Dublin "Daily Express" of March 8th, Judge Harrison told the Cavan grand jury that the crime of drunkenness had trebled in their county; and on Friday, at Limerick, when, as reported in the London "Times" of March 10th, Mr. Justice O'Brien called the attention of the grand jury of the county to "the very large increase of drunkenness," and, as also reported in the London "Times" of March 10th, Lord Justice Fitz-Gibbon told the grand jury of the city that— While the convictions for drunkenness show a decrease, there was a considerable increase of that offence in the rural portion of that district; and, whether it is a fact that these counties, in which it is stated by Her Majesty's Judges of Assize that drunkenness has enormously increased, are subject to the existing Sunday Closing Act; and that, whilst in the exempted portion of the city of Limerick the convictions for drunkenness show a decrease, there was a considerable increase of drunkenness in the rural, non-exempted, portion of the said city?

SIR WILFRID LAWSON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether there has been a continuous decrease in the arrests for drunkenness all over Ireland since the year 1877, the year immediately preceding the passing of the Sunday Closing Act; whether the Irish Criminal and Judicial Returns show that the arrest a for drunkenness in 1877 numbered 110,903; for 1881, 78,573, or a reduction of 32,330 cases; whether in the four counties of Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, and Cavan, the decrease, comparing these two years, amounts to close upon 50 per cent; and, if so, is not the increase referred to by the Judges in those four counties on the Returns of the previous half year, and not on the Returns for 1877?

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, I have seen the newspaper reports referred to, and have no reason to doubt their accuracy, or the correctness of the statements made by the Judges, though I have not had opportunity to verify them. In regard to the Question of the hon. Member for Carlisle (Sir Wilfrid Lawson), the decrease has not been quite continuous. It was so in the years 1878, 1879, and 1880; but the numbers rose somewhat in 1881. The figures for last year are not yet available. The numbers of persons proceeded against for drunkenness in 1877 and 1881 are correctly quoted. The decrease in the latter year was 32,330. Comparing 1877 with 1881, in the case of the counties Clare, Limerick, Tipperary, and Cavan, the decrease in the latter year amounts to about 42 per cent. The increase referred to by the Judges in the four counties named was on the Return for the corresponding period of the previous year, and not on the Returns for 1877.

MR. CALLAN

said, he thought the right hon. Gentleman had not answered the latter part of the Question.

MR. TREVELYAN

I did not omit to answer it. If the statements of the Judges are correct, then the inferences of the hon. Member are also correct.