§ MR. P. FFRENCH (Wexford, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) whether he is aware that the cattle belonging to a man named Larkin, on the Templemore Estate, were seized and placed in the Arthurstown pound before One o'clock a.m on the 23rd May (Ascension Morning); (2) whether it is legal to make seizures in the night; (3) whether he is aware that 200 police, drafted from other counties, were present at the auction of the tenants' cattle; and that the police of Wexford town and the surrounding baronies have little or nothing to do owing to the almost crimeless state of the county and (4), whether some of these surplus police could be spared to the Templemore Estate, thereby saving expense to the county?
MR. JOHN MORLEYThe fact is as stated in the first paragraph. The seizure was made under a writ of fi. fa., directed to the Sheriff, and in the absence of police. It is legal to carry out a seizure under such a writ at any hour. There were two sales of cattle on the 24th May, one at Arthurstown and the other at Saltmills, and the number of police present on each occasion was 50. The assembling of this force will not, however, entail any expense to the county, as the men were not drawn from 1537 outside the county. The police of Wexford town and surrounding baronies perform the ordinary duties, and there is no extra force chargeable to the county.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask whether it is not the fact that seizures under Civil Bill decrees cannot by statute be carried out at at night, and whether it is not the practice of the Government to discountenance seizures at night as being calculated to lead to disturbance?
MR. J. MORLEYsaid, that as the hon. and learned Member would probably remember, he got into some trouble in the Queen's Bench in reference to a matter of the kind.
§ MR. MACNEILLVery honourable trouble.
MR. J. MORLEYsaid, he was aware that a Civil Bill was a very different thing from a writ of fi. fa.