§ MR. J. O'CONNORI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that it was appointed to hold a Petty Sessions Court at Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, on the 1st instant, and that a large number of litigants assembled at the Court House on that day in order to have their cases heard; whether it is a fact that the Magistrates did not attend, although two Resident Magistrates held a Court under the Criminal Law Procedure Act on the day before at Fermoy, within easy distance of Ballyporeen; and whether he will make inquiries, and, if necessary, give instructions that Courts shall be attended by Magistrates at appointed times, so as to accommodate the public?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am informed that on the occasion referred to the Resident Magistrate in whose district the Petty Sessions are held was prevented from attending through illness, and as a local Justice who attends these Petty Sessions very regularly happened not to attend on that occasion, they fell through. Any public inconvenience which may have been occasioned is much to be regretted.' As regards the suggestion in the second paragraph, there does not appear to have been any reason to anticipate on the previous day that the Petty Sessions would fall through, and the Resident Magistrates who were at Fermoy left that place upon their duty there being completed. Every effort 1112 is made to secure that sittings of fixed Petty Sessions shall not be disarranged by reason of the non-attendance of a Magistrate.