§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland how many police pensioners there are in Ireland who joined the constabulary force under the Act of 1847; were these men entitled on retirement from the force to receive their full pay for pension, and why did they not so receive their full pay; did a law adviser to the Crown give the opinion that there was nothing in the existing condition of the law to prevent the Government, if so minded, giving these men their full pay for pension; did the officers who joined under the Act of 1847, on retiring from the force, receive their full pay; and, will he have this matter fully investigated, in order that justice may be done to the surviving remnant of these police pensioners?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds, Central)It would not be possible to give the information desired by the first question without an expenditure of much labour and time, which could serve no useful purpose. The amount of pension in each case is determined by length of service and conduct, and no right to full pay on retirement is conferred by the Act of 1847. The Lord Lieutenant has always, upon the 387 advice of his Law Officers, exercised the power under the Act of sanctioning pensions calculated upon length of service and conduct, and the amount of pension in the cases of officers retired under the Act depended, as in the case of men, upon precisely the same conditions. The matter has already been fully investigated, and I see no sufficient reason for reopening it.
§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland will he explain on what grounds Mr. Milling, D.I., R.I.C., Derrygonnelly, county Fermanagh, withdrew, on his own responsibility, at Belleek Petty Sessions, on 8th December last, a charged preferred by the police against Mr. R. N. Barron, Solicitor, Ballyshannon, Registrar of Donegal, of discharging firearms on the public road, although several witnesses were ready to prove the offence; and will Mr. Milling be directed to again take up the prosecution?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe charge against Mr. Barron was one of discharging a firearm at a bird off the public road. The solicitor for the defendant asked the magistrates to dismiss the case, and the magistrates having suggested its withdrawal, the district Inspector offered no objection and the case was accordingly dropped. There seems to be no sufficient reason for reopening the proceedings.
§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDE (Kerry, W.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the amount of the economies effected by the stoppage of recruiting in the Royal Irish Constabulary and the reduction which has taken place already in that force, and how much will be the amount of these economies in the future; and whether, in accordance with his reiterated promise that Irish savings will be credited to Ireland, the amount of the savings in the matter of the Royal Irish Constabulary will be placed to an Irish account?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir MICHAEL HICKS BEACH, Bristol, W.)My promise, as I have explained, related to judicial salaries. But I may add that any saving shown by the Estimates on the Irish Constabulary Tote is far more than counterbalanced by increases on other Irish Votes.
§ MR. JASPER TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state if Constable Lester, of the County Leitrim force, who was found, on inquiry by the Inspector General, to have written a letter in the name of the sergeant of his station for the purpose of evading a debt due to a Dublin cycle firm, will be proceeded against criminally for a breach of the ordinary law, against acts committed with intent to defraud?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThere is no evidence that the constable wrote the letter referred to, and I have already stated that if the cycle firm desire to prefer a criminal charge against him, every assistance will be afforded to them to have it fully investigated by the magistrates.