§ MR. E. M'HUGH (Armagh, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if ho is aware that summonses have been granted in the Belfast Police Courts against four directors of the Discount Corporation of Belfast; and whether, in view of the magnitude of the interest involved, the wide-spread losses caused by the failure of this and other fradulent Companies now in liquidation, and the gravity of the charges made, the Crown intend to intervene in these cases and see that justice is not frustrated?
MR. J. MORLEYIt is a fact that summonses have been granted against four directors of the National Discount Corporation of Ireland for issuing fraudulent balance sheets and conspiring to defraud. These summonses, I understand, were to have been heard at the Belfast Police Court to-day, though with 574 what result I am not yet aware. The present proceedings have been instituted by a private prosecutor, a shareholder in the concern, and I am clearly of opinion, in which the Irish Law Officers concur, that at the present stage the Executive should not interfere in the case. Of course, if the defendants be sent for trial the case will then in the ordinary way come into the hands of the Crown, when the necessary action will be taken.