§ MR. J. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, has his attention been drawn to a sentence of three years' penal servitude inflicted on two youths at the Westmeath October Sessions, for dropping a stone of about four ounces in weight from a bridge on a passing train; and, whether, as there was an entire absence of evidence that the act was committed with a malicious intent, he will have an Inquiry made 760 into the case with the view to a reduction of the sentence?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURIt is the fact that at the Quarter Sessions held at Mullingar, in October last, two young men, aged about 21 years, were convicted and sentenced to a term of three years' penal servitude on a charge of having thrown a stone weighing about a pound at a passing train. A memorial praying for a remission of the sentence has been received from one of the prisoners within the past few days, and this memorial is at present under the consideration of the Lords Justices.