§ MR. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)said, he wished to call the attention of the House to the condition of the prisoners who were convicted in this case, and to ask the Government to grant an impartial inquiry in their case, as had been given in the case of the prisoners Hebron and Brian Kilmartin. Mr. Justice Day had been sent to investigate the Belfast riots, and he urged that some impartial Judge should be sent to investigate the circumstances of this case. If he were not clearly convinced that the men now suffering penal servitude were completely innocent he would not trouble the House for one moment on the subject. All the Government were asked to do was to give an impartial inquiry into the case of these prisoners, such as was given into the case of Hebron, Eyan, and Kilmartin, and if that were done evidence would be produced to show the innocence of the men, and to show the perjured character of the testimony on. which they had been convicted. Constable Fitzgerald was ready to sub- 1049 stantiate the statement which he had already made that the informers in the case had between them concocted the evidence on which a packed jury in Green Street had convicted the prisoners. He again appealed to the Government not to be so steadfast in refusing the impartial inquiry he asked for, and for which he would continue to ask so long as he was a Member of the House. He was sorry that the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland (Mr. A. J. Balfour) had not thought fit to make it convenient to be present in the House; for he (Mr. Tuite) wished to call attention to the National Teachers' Bill. The Government had promised from time to time to deal with the position of those teachers, and successive Chief Secretaries had been interviewed on the subject. The reply given in each case had been to the effect that the position of the teachers would be immediately considered by the Government. The result up to the present had been that the teachers had received many promises, but nothing in the shape of substantial improvement in their position. Comparing the inferior position of the Irish teachers with that of the English and Scotch teachers, he said that all they wanted was to have the Irish teachers placed on the same footing as their brethren in England and Scotland. He asked, seeing that no facilities had been offered by the Government for the discussion of the Bill, whether they would give a promise that before the Session closed the case of the Irish teachers would be considered.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY of STATE foe the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Stuart-Wortley) (Sheffield, Hallam)said, he wished to interpose in the debate in order to answer the question raised by the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Quilter) as to the tenders for contracts of prison labour. The subject had been brought to his notice so late before coming down to the House that he had practically no opportunity of learning more than that the tenders had been invited. In the circumstances, he must not be taken to admit that in the contracts to be made there was any departure contemplated from pledges given to the House, or that there was any intention to increase to any extent the amount of mat-making labour done in the prisons. 1050 There had been a great decrease in the last nine years in the amount of mat-making labour. In the convict prisons mat-making had disappeared altogether, and in the local prisons the daily average number of prisoners employed on it had diminished in this period from close upon 3,000 to 1,681. He hoped that this fact indicated what the policy of the Department was. He assured the hon. Member that he would take care that no action was taken in respect of those tenders until after the first two days after the House had met again, and until there had thus been an opportunity of raising the subject in the form of a Question in the House or on the Estimates. In reference to the question raised by the hon. Member for Flintshire (Mr. S. Smith) and the right hon. Member for East Denbighshire (Mr. Osborne Morgan) as to the insufficient representation of the Nonconformist party on the magisterial Bench——
§ MR. OSBORNE MORGANNo representation at all.
§ MR. STUART-WORTLEYWell, an inadequate representation.
§ MR. SAMUEL SMITHNone at all.
§ MR. STUART-WORTLEYWell, in saying that there was no representation at all it seemed to be assumed that there was a right to some representation. The mere fact that a man belonged to a particular religious denomination did not constitute a right or qualification for the Bench. Moreover, the law did not give the appointments to the House nor to the political departments of the Executive Government. The information they had received from the Lord Lieutenant, upon whom the responsibility rested, was to the effect that he was unable to find gentlemen possessing the necessary qualification to sit on the Bench. When he said qualification he understood him to mean not merely qualification by estate, but to include also qualifications with regard to social position, and in the matter of legal learning. He thought it was a wise arrangement which kept the appointment of magistrates a thing apart from the duties of the Administration; but even if it were advisable to alter the law, there were measures on the subject before the House which made discussion on such a subject at present out of Order. He did not see what the Government could do in the matter. If it was possible to put pressure on the 1051 Lord Lieutenant in the direction indicated, an opportunity had presented itself during the five years hon. Gentlemen opposite were in the enjoyment of power. It was surprising that they had made so little use of their opportunities in the matter complained of. The matter did not come within the province of the Department which he represented. The main facts on which the hon. Member rested his case were really disputed by those who were equally well able to judge of the question with himself. He (Mr. Stuart-Wortley) must protest against the idea that anything improper had been done, and deny that the matter was within the province of the Department to which he belonged.