§ MR. FOLEY (Galway, Connemara)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that, in a case stated by the Recorder of Galway to the Irish Court of Appeal relative to the right of freemen in Galway to the Parliamentary Franchise without taking an oath or declaration, the decision below was reversed, whereupon the Court of Appeal set down the case for re-argument on a point involving the existence of a Freeman's Roll, and that the Recorder thereupon certified, in reply to a written inquiry from the High Court of Justice, that the question of the oath was the only one raised before him, and that a Freeman's Roll has been proved to exist; is he also aware that an affidavit was thereupon filed contradicting this allegation and exhibiting the original draft case submitted to the Recorder, which showed that several questions affecting the keeping of the Freeman's Roll were submitted to the Recorder, but were struck out by the Recorder; and that thereupon the Court of Appeal, despite the Recorder's certificate, ruled that no Freeman's Roll existed in Galway; do the Executive intend in any way to notice the Recorder's action, or call on him for an explanation; would there be any difficulty, in view of the importance of the case as affecting the right to vote in the Borough of Galway, to lay upon the Table the Recorder's 1758 original ease, his reply to the Court of Appeal, and the draft case submitted to him; and what course it is proposed to take with regard to the person appointed to keep the Freeman's Roll in the Borough of Galway?
§ MR. BRYCE (for Mr. J. MORLEY)The question seems to state the facts that occurred with substantial accuracy, as I am informed. The action of the Recorder was wholly judicial and the Executive have no power of interfering or calling upon him for an explanation as suggested. Nor have the Executive any control over the documents filed in the Court of Appeal in the course of judicial proceedings. The person referred to in the last paragraph holds two offices, that of Town Clerk and that of Keeper of the Freeman's Roll, which are doubtless, as was observed by the Court of Appeal, incompatible with one another, and it is proposed to obviate this inconvenience by suggesting his resignation of one of the offices.