§ MR. McCARTAN (Down, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Michael Murphy and seven others were prosecuted at Petty Sessions, Newcastle, county Down, at the suit of the Crown, for injuring property belonging to the owners of a trawler fishing in Dundrum Bay; whether the mode of fishing practised by the trawler, while quite as destructive to the fish as ordinary trawling, is alleged to involve no violation of the law; and whether under the circumstances the Crown will make inquiry into the whole matter before lending its services to support such a serious evasion of the law on the part of the owner of the trawler?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe facts are as stated in the first paragraph. The further hearing of the case has been adjourned to the next Petty Sessions to be held on the 17th March, and, pending the result of the magisterial investigation, I do not think it desirable to reply to the inquiries contained in the second and third paragraphs of the Question.