§ MR. J. C. FLYNN (Cork)I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland (1) in reference to the Clonbain "White-boy" case tried at the last Winter Assizes in Cork, whether he will state why the Crown did not produce the constabulary at the trial; (2) whether District Inspector Cosgrave seized the notebooks of the constabulary bearing on the case; and is 12 o'clock (noon) the time specified in the diary kept in the barrack as the hour at which the complainant reported the outrage; and (3) in view of the fact that it was on a matter of time one of the prisoners, Daniel Buckley, was convicted, will further inquiry be made by the authorities into the case, or will a constabulary inquiry on oath be ordered into the connection with or knowledge of the case by the local police?
§ *THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.Three members of the constabulary were in attendance in court as witnesses for the prosecution in this case, and two of them were examined. Two other members of the police, to whom I presume the question specially refers, were summoned as witnesses for the defence and were present at the trial, but were not examined on behalf of the prisoners. It was of course open to the accused to have examined, not only those witnesses summoned at their own instance, but also any witnesses in attendance on behalf of, though not examined by, the Crown. The defence, however, did not adopt this course. Following the practice established for the necessary protection of the public interest, I must respectfully decline to state reasons why any particular witness was not examined on behalf of the Crown. It is true that the District Inspector took up the note 412 books of the two members of the constabulary, who were summoned for the defence, as he was entitled to do. I decline to state what were the contents of these books; they were not given in evidence, and any relevant facts noted in them could have been deposed to by the constables who made the notes, if within their knowledge, had they been examined. It is not intended to direct any further inquiry into the case, as suggested in the last paragraph of the Question.