§ MR. HENRY H. FOWLER (Wolverhampton. E.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been called to the case of John Ryan, who was committed to prison by the High Sheriff of the County of Tipperary on the 31st March, 1886, for taking possession of a holding from which he had been evicted, and whose period of imprisonment is stated in the Return, recently presented to the House, to be for an "indefinite term;" whether the High Sheriff of any county in Ireland has the power to commit to prison for an "indefinite term" an evicted tenant for re-taking possession of his holding; and, whether, having regard to the fact that John Ryan has been in prison for upwards of 12 months, the case will be brought under the notice of the Lord Lieutenant?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said: John Ryan appears to have been committed to prison on June 4, 1886, pursuant to an order of attachment for contempt issued from the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice in Ireland. The contempt committed was that stated in the Return; but the Governor of the prison, in sending forward the materials for the Return, erroneously stated that the committal was by the Sheriff, who merely signed the warrant pursuant to the writ of the Court. The Sheriff, of himself, has no power to commit to prison. Ryan was informed in October last, in reply to a Memorial forwarded by him to the Lord Lieutenant, that any application for his release should be made through the Judge who committed him for contempt; but he has not made any such application. It has been open to him to obtain his release at any time by purging the contempt, and the Government are unable to interfere in the matter.