MR. O'BRIENasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is the fact that the Fermanagh Grand Jury ignored the Bill sent up against a man named Beatty, whom the magistrates had returned for trial on a charge of having set fire to his house on December the 10th; that his landlord is now seeking compensation from the same grand jury for malicious injury to the house, and that, while the grand jurors would not allow the case to come before a court for investigation, they will now proceed to assess damages over a particular area; and, if he can say how this area will be arrived at?
§ MR. TREVELYANBeatty was committed for trial on a charge of burning a house of which he was formerly tenant, but the Grand Jury ignored the Bill. The landlord is not seeking compensation for the malicious burning, the person who is seeking it is the person who succeeded Beatty under certain letters of administration. This case will come on before the Presentment Sessions on the 24th of the month, and it will not come before the Grand Jury unless the Sessions decide the burning was ma- 1302 licious. It is impossible in that event to say what will be the area on which the tax will be fixed; but the Grand Jury will, of course, consider the whole case when it comes before them.