HC Deb 05 May 1884 vol 287 cc1315-7
COLONEL KING-HARMAN

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, What steps the Government have taken in the case of Mr. Mangan, High Sheriff of Drogheda, who holds a retail beer and spirit licence contrary to the Statute?

MR. SEXTON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether Mr. Alderman Mangan, High Sheriff of Drogheda, whose tenure of the office of sheriff has been assailed because he is the holder of a retail licence, was also lately called to account as to the composition of the Grand Jury panel, which proved, in the result, to be unimpeachable; whether an unsuccessful attempt has been made to induce the Government to cause the removal of the assizes from the town of which Alderman Mangan is sheriff; whether a gentleman, Mr. Edward M'Donough, who held the office of High Sheriff of Drogheda in a recent year, was, during the year of his shrievalty, the holder of a retail licence for the sale of liquor to be consumed on the premises, and Mr. Nicholas Leech, T. C., High Sheriff of Drogheda in 1880, was, during the year of his shrievalty, the holder of two retail licences for the sale of liquor to be consumed on the premises; whether other cases have not likewise occurred in recent years, in which gentlemen holding the office of High Sheriff have not also held such licences; whether the Lord Lieutenant, in ratifying the nomination (by the Corporation of Drogheda) of Alderman Mangan to the office of High Sheriff, was not aware that Alderman Mangan was, at the time, the holder of the licence; whether the Statute of William the Fourth, referring to this matter, has become inoperative through disuse; and, whether the precedents cited are to be followed, or whether Alderman Mangan is to be treated in an exceptional manner?

MR. TREVELYAN

The Government have not yet communicated with Mr. Mangan. I have been in consultation with the authorities in Dublin on the subject. I think the commission will go to Mr. Mangan to-morrow. The hon. Member for Sligo is aware that the constitution of the Grand Jury panel was the subject of a recent Question in this House, and the result should also be in his recollection. The hon. Member is also aware that the attention of the Government has been drawn to the suggestions which have, from time to time, been made as to the removal of the Assizes from the town of Drogheda, and that the Government have been ad- vised that the Assizes could not be abolished without legislation. It is the case that the gentlemen named by the hon. Member were licensed publicans when appointed to the office of High Sheriff, and continued to carry on their trade; and it is not unlikely that there have been other instances of the kind; but the case of Mr. Mangan is the first in which attention has been drawn to the manner in which the Statute of Will. IV. affects such cases. The holding of a licence is not a disqualification for the office of Sheriff, and it is for the consideration of any person seeking the office whether he will accept it with the condition annexed by law of giving up acting under his licence. I am advised that the Act is not inoperative through disuse. I have already said, in reply to the hon. and gallant Member for the County of Dublin (Colonel King-Harman), that the Government are considering the terms in which they will communicate with Mr. Mangan. He has been placed in this difficulty—that the attention of the Government was not called to it before his appointment.

MR. SEXTON

If this practically obsolete Statute is put into force against Mr. Mangan, I shall call the Government to account.

COLONEL KING-HARMAN

I shall ask the Solicitor General for Ireland tomorrow, Whether all licences in Ireland, and, indeed, in the United Kingdom, are not granted under this Act of Will. IV.?