§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Limerick, West)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether a quantity of hay, 1022 the property of Nicholas Darcy, of Churchtown, Newcastle West, county Limerick, was burned on the 1st of October last, and if it is true that the property of Darcy was under police protection at the time; whether a claim for compensation for the loss of his property, amounting to £540, was made by Darcy to the presentment sessions held at Newcastle West on the 31st of December last, and if the application was rejected in consequence of the sworn testimony of a man employed by Darcy, named John Connors, to the effect that he had set fire to the hay, at the instigation of Rose Darcy, which evidence was corroborated by another witness named Jeremiah McCarthy, also in the employment of Darcy at the time of the burning; whether Connors was subsequently arrested and charged with arson at a special court held in Newcastle West on the 4th of January last, before Colonel Persse, R.M., when McCarthy swore to having seen Rose Darcy supply Connors with oil and matches, and that he then set fire to the hay; whether Colonel Persse adjourned the court to the 11th of January, for the purpose of examining Rose Darcy as a witness, notwithstanding a strong protest made by Connors' solicitor that Rose Darcy was equally amenable, and if it is true that, on the assembling of the said court on the 11th of January, the prisoner Connors was not produced for trial, though Colonel Persse and Rose Darcy were in attendance; if it is also true that, later on the same day, Colonel Persse attended at the county gaol, Limerick, and addressed the prisoner Connors in the following terms, viz.:—
By some accident you were not forthcoming at Newcastle West to-day, where I went to dispose of your case. On your own admission you have committed a very grave offence, hut your admission is contradictory, and you have stated one thing at one time and another at another. Your evidence is therefore more or less worthless. The other who states to having seen you commit that crime I also look upon as another worthless witness. I look upon you both as tools in a conspiracy formed against Darcy; a conspiracy first to destroy his property, afterwards to deprive him of compensation, and, thirdly, to damage his character. I discharge you now for this offence of arson, because, as I said before, there is not sufficient evidence, yours and McCarthy's being worthless; and I only hope that the authorities will see their way to prosecute you for perjury, of which doubtless you have been guilty, and I only hope you will be brought to justice for it;1023 and, whether he will state the reason why Connors was not produced for trial, and if the course pursued in the whole of this matter by Colonel Persse, E.M., meets with the approval of the Government; and if steps will now be taken to bring the persons implicated in the crime of arson to trial, or otherwise to proceed against Connors and McCarthy for wilful and corrupt perjury, of which crime they have been already pronounced guilty by Colonel Persse, R.M.?
THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY)I am informed that the claim of Mr. Darcy for compensation for the burning of his hay is about being brought before the Grand Jury at the Limerick Assizes; and, pending the investigation that may then take place, I think it would be more convenient that I should abstain from entering into the matters involved in this Question.