§ MR. DEASYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is a fact that forty-one prisoners charged at the Clonmel Assizes in July 1881 with having been engaged in a riot at Kilcross, county Tipperary, on the 6th of May previous, were, owing to the disagreement of the jury, sent to the following winter assizes at Kilkenny; whether the judge at Clonmel granted an application for costs made by counsel for the prisoners on account of the adjournment of the trials; whether only eleven prisoners received any costs; and, whether Mr. George Bolton, Crown Solicitor, received the costs for the remaining thirty prisoners; and, if not, could he explain the reason?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. WALKER)The prisoners were charged at the Clonmel Summer Assizes of 1881 with a riot, and the jury disagreed. The trial was then postponed to the next Assizes, and the presiding Judge directed that "the traversers should be paid the costs they would be put to by the postponement." The accused were subsequently tried at the Winter Assizes of 1881 and convicted. No application was made at the Winter Assizes in respect of the costs awarded; but costs were afterwards fur- 1744 nished and taxed to £46 10s. 8d., which was paid. In October, 1882, a claim was made for the travelling and hotel expenses of 11 of the parties, which was taxed at £19 5s. and paid. A claim is now made on behalf of 21 others, and, if it is presented on the same scale as that paid, it may be considered. No sum in respect of these costs has ever been received by Mr. Bolton. If a claim be admitted, it will be paid.