HC Deb 31 July 1896 vol 43 cc1254-5
MR. T. M. HEALY

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland if the Government have come to any, and what, decision as to the conduct of Head Constable Howe, Queenstown, in regard to the charge of perjury tried at the Cork Assizes against a woman named Barnett; whether he is aware that Judge Holmes, in his charge to the jury, said that the idea of sending the children to an industrial school could not have originated with her, for a woman like that would know nothing about an industrial school. They were sent out by the head constable to beg, so that they could be admitted to an industrial school. The whole proceeding, from first to last, was really a sham, in order to have a child who ought not to be sent to an industrial school sent there. He was disposed to think the question of religion was a material question in the inquiry, for it was the duty of the magistrates to avoid sending a Roman Catholic child to a Protestant or a Protestant to a Roman Catholic school; whether he is further aware that at the trial the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Ronan, read a statement made by the prisoner when she was tried at the petty sessions, to the effect that she was put up by Canon Harley and his daughter in Cork and Canon Daunt in Queenstown to say and do everything she did say and do; why these reverend gentlemen were not called as witnesses by the Crown; and, do the Government intend to take further action?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

As regards the first paragraph, an official reprimand has been conveyed to the Head Constable, and he has also been deprived of the opportunity of competing at the forthcoming examination of Head Constables for promotion to the rank of District Inspector. If the hon. and learned Gentleman desires an answer in detail to the statements in the remainder of the Question, I will ask him to postpone his inquiries until Monday next, as the papers are over in Dublin; but I may state that I have carefully considered the case, and that, on the facts as already brought under my notice, it is not the intention of the Crown to take further action.