§ MR. MAURICE HEALY (Cork)asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether it is intended to prefer a bill of indictment against the two men Walker charged with the murder of Head Constable Gardiner at the coming winter assizes; whether it is the fact that, in the case arising out of the recent disturbance in York Street, Dublin, the Crown considered that the Orangeman charged with shooting at a Nationalist crowd would not receive a fair trial at the hands of a jury of the city of Dublin, and accordingly had the trial in the adjoining county, by a jury, eleven of whom were Protestants; whether it is the fact that in recent years the Crown, in a Kilkenny murder case (Queen v. Phelan), and in other criminal cases of an agrarian character, had the indictment transferred into the Queen's Bench, and the accused tried by Dublin special juries; whether, if the trial of the Walkers proceeds in Belfast, there is any probability (having regard to the prisoners' right of challenge) that a jury can be had which will not be to a considerable extent composed of Orangemen in sympathy with the accused; and, whether, under the circumstances, he considers the case is one in which the Queen's Bench should be moved by the Crown to change the venue?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. HOLMES) (Dublin University)I fear I can give no answer beyond that given yesterday regarding the trial of the Walkers. No step to change the venue could be taken, nor could I give any effective directions as to the Winter Assizes until November; and I cannot now determine as to a course of action which must be largely dependent upon future circumstances. The Crown did not consider that the accused in the York Street shooting case would not receive a fair trial by a City of Dublin jury. He was tried in the county pursuant to a suggestion of the Court made on the occasion of an application on behalf of the prisoner for a writ of certiorari; but though this suggestion was made I have no reason to think that it arose from a 666 distrust of city jurors. The murder case referred to and other country criminal cases were tried in Dublin. The venue was changed in most of these cases under the provisions of a Statute that has now expired.