§ MR. P. A. M'HUGHI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Lord Chancellor of Ireland has adopted any settled and definite practice in regard to the appointment of licensed publicans in Ireland to the Commission of the Peace; and, if so, will he state to the House what the practice is?
§ *MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)Is it not the fact that persons engaged in the spirit trade, either as publicans or as wholesale dealers, are prohibited from sitting at Licensing Sessions? In case publicans are appointed without surrendering their spirit licences, will they be allowed to sit at Petty Sessions and adjudicate on cases of alleged breach of the Licensing Laws?
MR. J. MORLEYI should assume not. I will ask for information on that point. The Lord Chancellor does not propose to alter the rule as to the appointment of publicans to the Commission. That has been that, as a general rule, persons holding a retail spirit licence should not be appointed; but, in a very few and exceptional cases, when, for instance, having regard to the wants of a district, there is no other Magistrate available, and a licensed house not being in the place where the Magistrate is to adjudicate, such appointments have hitherto been made, and the Lord Chancellor proposes to retain a discretion as to such exceptional cases.