§ MR. CAREW(for Mr. GILL) (Louth, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that Mr. Matthew J. Barrett, of the firm of Messrs. J. Barrett and Company, Carrick-on-Shannon, and Mr. Thomas Costello, manager of the business establishment of Mr. Edward Costello, Carrick-on-Shannon, were sentenced to three terms of imprisonment for contempt of Court, in refusing to give evidence at the inquiry under Section 1 of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, recently held in that town; and, what is the reason that, on being brought up a fourth time on Tuesday last, they were unconditionally discharged, although they still refused to give evidence?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)The informations and facts connected with 852 this case were laid before the Attorney General for Ireland, who directed the prosecution of the person whom the in-formations and facts appeared to him to point to as the principal offender. The requirements of justice did not demand the further detention of the persons named in the Question, who were accordingly discharged.