§ MR. J. C. FLYNN (Cork, N.)I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland, in reference to the Clonbain case tried at the winter assizes in Cork, whether he can explain why District Inspector Cograve took possession of the notebooks of the Constabulary bearing upon the case; and, without disclosing the contents of said notebooks, if he can say whether the entries made therein had any bearing upon the question of time, in view of the fact that the conviction of one of the prisoners, Daniel Buckley, was owing largely to a matter of time?
§ *THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.The hon. Member's Question is, I think, based on a misconception. The District Inspector got possession of these notebooks in the preparation of the case for the prosecution, as it was his duty to do. I have already explained in answer to the hon. Member's Question of yesterday that the notes in these books were made by the two policemen who were summoned as witnesses for the accused. The contents of the notebooks could not, therefore, have properly been given in evidence by the Crown save upon the cross-examination of these witnesses. This cross-examination became impossible, owing to the fact that the policemen so summoned were not examined by the defence. The notebooks were in Court, and would no doubt have been used by the Crown on cross-examination had the defence by the examination of these witnesses given them the opportunity, which it did not. I must, therefore, bog to decline to state what were the contents of these notebooks or on what they bore.