HC Deb 07 April 1892 vol 3 cc848-9
MR. JORDAN (Clare, W.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been directed to a correspondence during the months of January, February, and March, between the Registrar General and Mr. R. B. Bradshaw, of Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, and between the Registrar General and Dr. Knox, Local District Registrar of Lisnaskea, in reference to the prosecution by Dr. Knox of Mr. Bradshaw, at the instance of the Registrar General, for the non-registration of the birth and death of a child, and especially to a letter of the Registrar General on the 29th January, 1892, to Dr. Knox, in which he states— That the facts of the case were not put before this Department when you reported Mr. Bradshaw's name as a defaulter under the Registration Acts. As you were personally aware of the occurrence of the birth and death, you should have served Mr. Bradshaw with notice to register each within the legal time, and you have given no satisfactory explanation of your neglect to furnish Mr. Bradshaw with a form of statutory declaration for the registry of the birth, which it is alleged he applied for several times; further, you rendered yourself liable to a penalty by refusing to register the death when applied to within twelve months. Had the circumstances been known, instructions to prosecute would not have been issued to you. Whether the Local Registrar, Dr. Knox was also the medical attendant at the birth and death of the child; whether the Registrar, on the 29th January and the 3rd February, requested Mr. Bradshaw to forward to the Department the amount of the costs he was put to in defending himself against a prosecution so instituted; and whether the Registrar will now order the repayment of these expenses to Mr. Bradshaw, as the least reparation due for such action?

MR. JACKSON

I understand that, as regards this case, Mr. Bradshaw was brought before a Magistrate and fined 2s. and 3s. costs for having failed to register the birth and death of his child. The matter was brought before the Registrar General, and as it appeared he had been fined according to law, the Registrar General felt that he could not interfere.

MR. JORDAN

The Registrar General's letter says— As you were personally aware of the occurrence of the birth and death, you should have served Mr. Bradshaw with notice to register each within the legal time, and you have given no satisfactory explanation of your neglect to furnish Mr. Bradshaw with a form of statutory declaration for the registry of the birth, which it is alleged he applied for several times; further, you rendered yourself liable to a penalty by refusing to register the death when applied to within twelve months. Had the circumstances been known, instructions to prosecute would not have been issued to you. Was the Local Registrar, Dr. Knox, also the medical attendant at the birth and death of the child?

MR. JACKSON

Yes, Sir; but I do not understand that that statement of the Registrar General would in any sense exonerate Mr. Bradshaw.