§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to the language used by a magistrate, Mr. James E. Butler, on the 2nd July last, in Waterville Courthouse, on the occasion of the trial of John and Jeremiah Riordan, two water bailiffs, for the killing of Patrick Connor, when he stated that he would go bail for these men with great pleasure; that he (Connor) deserved what he got; and that what he was doing was very different from poaching; and whether he will direct the attention of the Lord Chancellor to the conduct of Mr. Butler?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON, Londonderry, N.)I have caused inquiries to be made into the incident referred to, and have been unable to ascertain whether Mr. Butler made use of the language attributed to him or not. I may point out, however, that Mr. Butler did not act as a magistrate in the case, and that anything he may have said was said in the course of the evidence he gave as a witness to character of the accused. Under these circumstances it does not appear to be a case calling for the Lord Chancellor's intervention.