HC Deb 16 May 1892 vol 4 c957
MR. PINKERTON (Galway)

I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland if he is aware that in the case of the "Queen v. Montagu," three medical men were summoned as witnesses who were ignorant of the entire circumstances of the case, unless by report; whether when one of them was put into the witness-box, the Judge would not allow him to be examined, and asked why he had been brought there; and if he can explain why these men were paid five guineas per day expenses, while the doctors brought from Coleraine, whose evidence was admissible, only received two guineas per day?

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN,) Dublin University

It is a fact that three medical gentlemen were summoned to give evidence as experts. It is not the fact that the Judge asked why medical experts had been summoned as witnesses. He did remark that sufficient medical testimony had been given, and the evidence of the gentlemen referred to was not pressed. The three medical experts were gentlemen of eminence in their profession, and were paid special fees for a thorough examination of the whole case, and attending to give evidence at the trial. The fee appears to me to be a very moderate one.