§ MR. KELLY (Donegal, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether 148 gentlemen hold the Commission of the Peace for the county of Donegal, the vast majority of the people of which are Catholics; whether of those not more that one-twelfth are Catholics; whether there are many Catholics in the county fully qualified to hold the Commission of the Peace; and, whether the Lord Chancellor is prepared to consider the appointment of an additional number of Catholic Justices on the recommendation of representative bodies, or influential men of the county Donegal?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle-on-Tyne), in reply, said, with the trifling exception that the actual number of gentlemen holding the Commission of the Peace for the County Donegal was 147, there was no reason 820 to doubt the accuracy of the matter stated in the first two paragraphs of the Question. The Lord Chancellor, who was himself a Catholic, was not in a position to say how many Catholics there were in the county qualified for the commission; but, as he (Mr. Morley) had intimated upon a previous occasion, the Lord Chancellor would be prepared to consider any recommendations made as suggested in the last paragraph of the hon. Member's Question, if such recommendations had been previously made to the Lieutenant of the County.