§ MR. M. MCCARTAN (Down, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether 741 it is within the power of the Lord Lieutenant to appoint as Sheriff for a county in Ireland a gentleman who is not possessed of any lands within the county; (2) whether, notwithstanding his refusal to act by reason of his inability to meet the expenses pertaining to the office, or for other good reason, he can be enforced to act or be indicted for refusing to take the oath; (3) will he explain why, although the Corporations of the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Water-ford, Kilkenny, and of the county of the town of Drogheda, appoint their own Sheriff's, and the person to appointed may decline to serve without incurring any penalty, the City of Belfast, with a population of nearly 300,000, has no power to appoint a Sheriff for the city; and (4) if he will state whether the gentleman appointed as Sheriff for the comparatively small county of the town of Carrickfergus is to be prosecuted for refusing to take up an office which he never consented to fill?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. ATKINSON, Londonderry, N.)The fourth paragraph refers to the merits of a pending prosecution against Captain Higginson, and the first and second paragraphs are either abstract questions of law or refer to matters in issue in that suit. I must, therefore, decline to give any answer to these paragraphs, as it must necessarily prejudice the trial of the suit. With reference to the third paragraph, power is given to the Town Councils of the cities named, under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act, 1876, to select three persons qualified to fill the office of Sheriff, and of the three so selected, the Lord Lieutenant, not the Town Council, appoints one to be Sheriff. Section 7 of the Act provides that any person appointed to the office under the Act may decline to servo without incurring any penalty. The Act does not apply to Belfast.
§ MR. EDWARD CARSON (Dublin University)asked whether it was under Statute Law or the Common Law that prosecutions for not serving the office of Sheriff were taken?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELANDThe prosecution is taken under the Common Law.
§ MR. McCARTANasked whether it was the practice of the Attorney General 742 in Ireland to appoint a man who had no land in the county and no qualification, to serve?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELANDThat question assumes one of the matters in dispute, and I must therefore decline to answer it.
§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)asked what would be the venue of the trial?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELANDDublin.
§ MR. McCARTANinquired whether the attention of the right hon. Gentleman had been called to the fact that Judge Gibson, at the recent assizes at Belfast, spoke most favourably of this man?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELANDreplied in the negative.
§ MR. CARSONCan he be sent to gaol for not serving this office of Sheriff?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELANDwas understood to reply in the affirmative.