§ MR. MATTHEW KENNY (Tyrone, Mill)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if the Vice Lieutenant of County Tyrone has rejected the prayer of a Memorial, very extensively signed by the principal inhabitants of Dromore and vicinity, asking for the appointment of Mr. P. M'Laughlin to the Commission of the Peace; if the refusal to appoint Mr. M'Laughlin is due to the fact that he is a Catholic; if, at the same time, the Lord Chancellor has appointed an additional Protestant (Mr. Frederick Guy) to the Dromore Bench of Magistrates, although it has been recently brought to his notice that there are already nine Protestant and only one Catholic Magistrate in the district; and if he is aware that the Catholic population in the district largely preponderates?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am informed that a Memorial in favour of the appointment to the Magistracy of the County Tyrone of Mr. M'Laughlin, a farmer 1492 residing in the Dromore District, was presented to the Vice Lieutenant of the County, and was not acceded to, but the refusal to appoint Mr. M'Laughlin was not on the ground of his religion, as tin; Vice Lieutenant is always glad to recommend Roman Catholics when properly qualified persons of that religious denomination are brought to his notice. The Vice Lieutenant, in recommending the appointment of Mr. Frederick Andrew Guy (who is a Presbyterian), informed the Lord Chancellor that Mr. Guy was recommended to him by persons-of every religion and class in the district, and that, having inquired into his qualifications, he found him to be well-fitted to be a Magistrate. I have no information as to the relative proportion of the several religious denominations in the district.
§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)What are the grounds of the refusal?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI cannot say: it is a matter which rests in the discretion of the Vice Lieutenant.
§ MR. M. KENNYI beg to give notice that I will raise the question again.