HC Deb 08 May 1888 vol 325 cc1623-4
MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he has seen the report in the London Daily Telegraph of the 3rd instant of proceedings under "The Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887," at Skibbereen on the 2nd instant, stating that a man named Samuel Paul Kingston, who is 80 years of age, and his wife, were brought before Messrs. Warburton and Major Caddell, Resident Magistrates, charged with taking forcible possession; that from the evidence it appeared that the defendants were evicted from their farm on the 20th of February last, and that they went back into one of the outhouses, and when asked to leave said they had no place to go but the roadside; that, notwithstanding the request of Dr. Lewis, J.P., the landlord, that the defendants might be dealt with leniently, and the entreaties of Mrs. Kingston to the magistrates not to send the old man to gaol for the first time in his life as he was very delicate, the Bench sentenced the old man to one month and his wife to a fortnight in Cork Gaol; and, whether, taking the circumstances into account, he will consider the propriety of advising the Lord Lieutenant to exercise his prerogative in this case, and remit the sentence on this old man and his wife?

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

I have not yet received a full Report in this case; but I gather that, with slight exceptions, the main statements contained in the Question are correct. I am making further inquiries into the matter.