HC Deb 11 August 1887 vol 319 cc59-60
MR. HOOPER (Cork, S.E.) (for Mr. MAURICE HEALY) (Cork)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, at Clonmel, County Tipperary, Rural Petty Sessions, on the 18th day of February, 1887, after hearing a summons at the suit of John H. Jones, Secretary to the Conservators of Fisheries, Waterford District, against John Connolly, William Nagle, Edmond Hackett, and Michael Manning, charged with an offence against the Fishery Laws, the magistrates dismissed the said complaint against all the said defendants, and, by separate orders, ordered that the said complainant should pay to each of the said defendants the sum of £1 for costs; whether, on the magistrates accordingly issuing their warrants to the Constabulary for the levying of the said costs, the Constabulary refused to execute the warrants, although the said complainant is a man of substantial means; whether, in similar cases at the same Petty Sessions, the said complainant, when successful in prosecuting persons for breaches of the Fishery Laws, has been almost invariably awarded costs against said defendants; and whether, in such cases, the warrants have been levied by fine or imprison- ment; and, why the police in the present case have refused, or neglected, to levy the amount of the warrant against Mr. Jones?

THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)

, in reply, said, the facts were substantially as stated in the Question. The warrants were originally issued for the County of Tipperary; but Mr. Jones neither residing nor having any goods in that county, the warrants were submitted to the Inspector General of Constabulary for endorsement in the County of Waterford. The Inspector General felt himself unable to comply with the request, as, in his opinion, the magistrates had clearly exceeded their powers in awarding more than 20s. costs, seeing that the defendants had been jointly charged, and that costs were, therefore, incurred on only one summons. The magistrates did not re-issue the warrants, having a doubt as to their legality.