HC Deb 26 May 1884 vol 288 cc1296-8
MR. SEXTON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether Hampden Evans Tener, whose name appears in a Return to an Order of the House of the 14th November 1882, as holding the Commission of the Peace for the county of Tyrone, is the same person who for many years managed a loan fund bank in that county, and, about two years since, fled from the Country, taking with him the moneys deposited in his bank by the farmers, labourers, and servants of the district, and has not since returned; and, whether it is intended to retain his name in the Commission?

MR. TREVELYAN

On inquiry made, the facts appear to be substantially as stated, and they having been brought under the notice of the Lord Chancellor, he has directed that Mr. Tener's name shall be at once struck out of the Commission of the Peace. It is right to add that hitherto the circumstances have not been brought officially to the notice of any Lord Chancellor.

MR. SEXTON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether St. George Lawrence Will-cocks, whose name appears in a Return to an order of the House of 14th November 1882, as holding the commission of the peace for the county of Tyrone, and further described in the Return as being of "no profession or occupation," is a cottier, with no visible means of support; whether, about ten years ago, the then Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lord O'Hagan, sent him a letter of supersession on the ground that he was without means of subsistence; and, if so, how it happens that his name is still included in the list of magistrates; whether he presided in the Petty Sessions Court at Cookstown in August last, when cases of party assaults were tried, and so conducted himself that he was several times rebuked by the resident magistrate, Captain Trench, and by the Crown solicitor, Mr. Alexander Morpley, who went so far as to threaten to retire from the case; and, whether Mr. Willcocks will now be superseded from further acting in the commission?

MR. TREVELYAN

I am informed that Mr. Willcocks lives in a small house at Arboe, near Lough Neagh, in the county of Tyrone, and that his means of subsistence are believed to be very small. It is the fact that in February, 1873, he was superseded in the Commission of Peace by the then Lord Chan- cellor, Lord O'Hagan; but it is also the fact that he was reinstated by the same authority in the following April. The grounds of the supersession are not recorded. With regard to the occasion in last August, when he presided at Cooks-town Petty Sessions at the hearing of certain assault cases, Captain French, the Resident Magistrate, reports that his (Captain French's) interference was limited to securing for the representive of the Crown the right to conduct the cases without interruption. While I think the circumstances of the case, as at present shown, are not sufficient for a reference to the Lord Chancellor, and are somewhat exaggerated in the Question, they are such as appear to call for some further inquiry on the part of the Executive—which I shall cause to be made.