HC Deb 16 March 1885 vol 295 cc1235-6
MR. SMALL

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the population of the Petty Sessions district of Gorey, county Wexford, is principally Catholic; whether all the magistrates attending Gorey Petty Sessions are Protestants; whether he can state what qualifications the two most recently appointed magistrates, Messrs. Turner and Hore, had, and whether one of them has any experience or training except that to be obtained from an insurance and rent office; and, whether there are several Catholic gentlemen in the district perfectly qualified to act as magistrates, and why they have been passed over?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

The population of the Gorey district is principally Roman Catholic. I understand the magistrates who attend Petty Sessions there are Protestants. Colonel Hore, who owns a property of £350 a-year, was made a magistrate by the late Lord Chancellor on the recommendation of Lord Maurice Fitzgerald. Mr. Turner, who is agent to a large landowner in the county, was appointed by the present Lord Chancellor on the same recommendation. No such names as those referred to in the last paragraph of the Question have ever been before the present Lord Chancellor.