§ MR. KENNYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention has been called to an unusual claim for malicious injury and loss, brought by Sub-Constable Carroll at the Baronial Sessions, Ballyvaughan, county Clare, on the 16th May last; if this Sub-Constable claimed £395 compensation for money in gold and notes, his private property, which he alleged to have been maliciously destroyed by fire in the house of a man named Fitzpatrick, whom he was protecting; if Carroll's wife admitted on oath that she never saw the money in her husband's possession; if the various entries in Carroll's cash book were all made at the same time, although the dates extended over many years, and if these entries conflicted with the evidence of an ex-sub-inspector, who was produced to prove the amount of money in Carroll's possession at a certain date; if it is a fact that the cesspayers who voted for the presentment are persons who are not affected by the taxation it may involve; and, if it is usual for sub-constables of police on protection duty in Ireland to have in their possession so large a sum of money as £395; and, if so, and in view of the foregoing, it is proposed by the Irish Government to provide a suitable means of investment for the superfluous earnings of members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, in order to guard against the possibility of loss such as that alleged to have taken place by Carroll?
§ MR. TREVELYANSub-constable Carroll made the claim stated, and the Presentment Sessions having heard the evidence, passed it—the circumstance of the entries in the constable's book having been re-copied at one time, and the apparent discrepancy with an ex-sub-inspector's evidence having been explained to their satisfaction. The case is, however, still sub judice, as the Grand Jury have yet to pass the presentment, and it will be for thorn to fix the district upon which it should be levied. I am informed that it is not an unusual thing 1088 for a constable to be possessed of so much money; but certainly this man acted in a peculiar manner in keeping so large a sum at a protection post.
§ MR. HEALYasked if it were not unusual for sub-constables in Ireland to have as much as £400 in loose cash; why the right hon. Gentleman brought in a Bill last year to raise their pay; and, further, if it were not a fact that when Walsh, who was a witness in a certain case at Cork Winter Assizes, was found with a deposit receipt for £50, it led to his dismissal, because the Government said he must have got it from the Land League?
§ MR. TREVELYANsaid, he was informed that £100 of the money came to Carroll from his wife, and £100 from his father.
§ MR. TREVELYANNo doubt. Happily he was a man of saving habits. I wish there were more like him.
§ MR. KENNYasked if it were the fact that Carroll's wife admitted that she never saw the money in her husband's possession?
§ MR. TREVELYANI decline to answer any Questions until after the Grand Jury have settled the matter.