§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, seeing that sentence of six months' imprisonment was the extreme punishment in England for several assaults committed on the same occasion, and that Robert Comerford, of Belfast, had now been imprisoned for three months over that period, he would ask the Lord Lieutenant to exercise his prerogative and liberate the man?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) (Manchester, E.)As the hon. Member is probably aware, it is not my function to advise the Lord Lieutenant as to his use of the prerogative of mercy; but if either the prisoner or his friends present a Memorial to His Excellency I have no doubt it will be considered.
§ MR. M'CARTANasked, whether the state of the law was such that for a crime committed in Ireland 29 months' imprisonment would be given; whereas in England, for the same crime, only six months' imprisonment could be given?
§ [No reply.]