§ MR. HAYDEN) (Leitrim, S.asked the Solicitor General for Ireland whether the cases of seamen who were recently sentenced by the Resident Magistrates at Ballaghaderrin, County Mayo, Petty Sessions, to imprisonment for a month and a day for alleged obstruction of the police in the discharge of their duty at Lissacal, County Roscommon, and who served formal notices of appeal to the next Quarter Sessions for the Division, which take place at Athlone on the 22nd instant, can be tried at a more convenient place than Athlone, which is at the opposite end of the County to that in which the defendants reside, being nearly 50 miles distant; whether he is aware that there will also be Quarter Sessions at Castlerea on the 29th March for the same Division of the County, which is only seven miles from the defendants; and, whether, in view of the fact that the defendants are too poor to defray the expense of travelling to and attending at Athlone, he will consent to a postponement of the cases from Athlone to Castlerea Quarter Sessions on the 29th instant?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN,) Dublin UniversityI have communicated with the Attorney General on the subject, and I am informed that the matter is under consideration. I am not at present able 254 to give an exact answer as to what will be done. The decision, however, will rest with the Attorney General, to whom I have communicated the facts.