§ MR. CLANCY(for Mr. DEASY) (Mayo, W.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, By what Statute or authority are the Royal Irish Constabulary directed to prosecute at Petty Sessions, instead of before Town Courts, offenders resident outside the town boundaries for offences committed within the townships of towns under the Towns Improvement Act?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said: Under Section 12 of the Licensing Act, 1872, the Constabulary are authorized to prosecute in their own names as complainants in Courts of Petty Sessions for the offences enumerated in that section. The Constabulary Regulation, however, on the subject limits—as I explained to the House a few days ago—such action on the part of the Constabulary to cases in which the offence, while arising within the boundaries of a town under the Town Improvement Act, 1854, is committed by a person who does not reside within the town, a limitation very favourable to the Town Court, as it would be lawful for the Constabulary to take all such cases into the Petty Sessions Court.