§ DR. R. AMBROSEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. Thomas O'Donnell collects tolls and customs at the weekly markets and monthly fairs in Newport, County Mayo; is he aware that the only weighbridge ever erected in Newport was one used by a railway contractor, and that that has lately been removed; can tolls be legally collected on cattle at fairs at which no weighbridges have been provided; and will he take steps to secure that farmers and others disposing of cattle at monthly fairs at Newport will not forcibly be obliged to pay tolls not legally, due (owing to absence of weighbridges) so as to prevent breaches of the peace in exacting or enforcing the exaction of such tolls?
§ MR. BRYCE (for Mr. J. MORLEY)I am informed that the tolls levied at these fairs are received by Mrs. Millicent O'Donel, and that the statement in Paragraph 2 is correct. With regard to the third and fourth paragraphs, I understand it is illegal to collect tolls under the circumstances mentioned save when the Land Commission have made an Order under Section 9 of the Markets and Fairs Act of 1887 exempting a market authority from the provisions of the Act. The grounds for exemption are stated in the Act. The Market Authority of Newport have, I am informed, applied to the Land Commission for exemption under that section, and the matter is now under the consideration of the Commission.