§ MR. SEXTONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland how the amount of £30, offered to the editors of the Waterford News and Waterford Citizen for one day's illegal detention in gaol, has been arrived at; has his attention been called to the case of Mr. Henry O'Connor, of the Leinster Leader, sentenced to a month's imprisonment with hard labour, on a conviction quashed as illegal by the Court of Exchequer after Mr. O'Connor had been four days in gaol; is he aware that Mr. Justice O'Brien decided that Mr. O'Connor has no legal remedy for the wrongful conviction and detention, and that his action for false imprisonment against the Resident Magistrates (Colonel Forbes and Sub-Inspector Mercer) must be non-suited; and, in view of the fact that Mr. O'Connor's solicitor proved that he incurred nearly £30 costs in procuring the mandamus from the Queen's Bench, compelling the "case stated," which procured his release, independent of the costs of his defence, and that it was on the argument of the Crown Lawyers that this gentleman was held to have no legal remedy, will the Government offer any compensation to Mr. O'Connor, following the principle on which the Waterford editors, without any judicial decision, have been compensated for a shorter confinement?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI have not the information necessary to enable me to answer.
§ MR. SEXTONThis question has been down three times, and last time it was postponed at the request of the Attorney General. The question is an important one, and, if it is not answered, we must raise a discussion on the Appropriation Bill.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI hope to be ready to-morrow.