§ MR. D. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that, out of the ten magistrates entitled to adjudicate in the Clones, county Monaghan, petty sessions district, two only are Catholics, and whether two Protestant magistrates have been recently appointed, one of whom has neither residence nor property of any kind in the district, and lives in an adjoining county; and if steps will be taken to remedy the disparity between Protestant and Catholic magistrates in this petty sessions district, where Catholics are largely in the majority over all other denominations?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI understand that three of the magistrates in the Clones Petty Sessions district are Roman Catholics. The two gentlemen recently appointed to the Commission of the Peace in the county are, I believe, Protestants, and one of them is not actually resident in the county, although he appears to live very near the border of the county. The Lieutenant of the county is always ready to consider the names of any gentleman recommended to him for appointment to the Commission, whether Roman Catholics or Protestants.