§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been directed to the report, in The Galway Observer, of the proceedings in the Galway Petty Sessions, on the 3rd instant; whether he is aware that Sergeant Philip Kehol, Royal Irish Constabulary, was convicted before the magistrates, at the suit of Mr. Peter 357 Cunningham, on a charge of having used threatening language calculated to incite to a breach of the peace; whether it is the fact that this same Sergeant Kehol was recently put on trial before a Constabulary Court of Inquiry, by order of the Inspector General of the Royal Irish Constabulary, on the following charge: making a false official statement about the arrest of a man named Eugene Lennon, a deserter from Her Majesty's Navy, endeavouring by such false statement to obtain the sum of twelve shillings as a reward; if so, what decision did the Inspector General arrive at in the Report of the Court upon the case; and, what course, in viewing the conduct of Sergeant Kehol in these two cases, is it the intention of the Government to take in his case?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI have not seen the newspaper report to which the hon. Member refers; but I have ascertained, on inquiry, that the sergeant was charged with using language calculated to incite to a breach of the peace, and that the decision of the magistrates was that the case was a most trivial one, and that the ends of justice would be fully satisfied by an admonition. Sergeant Kehol is a man of 23 years' service, and of good character; and the Inspector General, to whom the case was reported, did not consider it necessary to do anything more than caution him. Five years ago a complaint was made against this sergeant that he claimed unfairly a share of a reward of £1 for the arrest of a deserter. An inquiry was ordered, but was never held, as the necessary witnesses could not be found.