HC Deb 19 August 1889 vol 339 c1665
MR. MAUEICE HEALY (Cork)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the report of the prosecution against Mr. James Keane, at Fermoy Petty Sessions, in the Cork Examiner of the 14th instant, from which it appears that the following evidence was given against Keane:— Sergeant John Dallas, R.I.C., deposed that at a fair at Upton he went to buy some cattle from a man named Kenealy. He saw the defendant Keane, who pulled back his head and winked, and that he understood the defendant to mean that he did not want him to buy the cattle, and called a policeman and had the defendant arrested; and to the following Judgment of Colonel Longbourne, R.M., on the case:— I consider it a very suspicious case, but there is not sufficient evidence to convict. People should be very careful how they wink in these days; and, whether the police concerned will be warned against instituting prosecutions of this kind?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

I have not seen the newspaper report referred to. The observations of the Presiding Magistrate are not correctly quoted. It is the duty of the police to institute proceedings in any case in which a person appears to have been unlawfully interfered with in pursuing a lawful calling.

MR. M. HEALY

In what respect is the report inaccurate?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

As far as I know, the Magistrate, instead of making a general observation, as reported, made a reference to the particular case.