§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the case of a captain in Her Majesty's service, who was prosecuted and fined at the Coolock Petty Sessions, County Dublin, on the 10th instant, under the Peace Preservation Act, for having arms on his own land, on the ground that his holding was situated in a proclaimed district, namely the County of Dublin; and will he explain 91 why the County Dublin, which is, and has for years, been absolutely free from all serious crime, is still proclaimed under the Peace Preservation Act, and whether the proclamation of the County of Dublin will be revoked.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe answer to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. With regard to the second paragraph, it is a fact that the County of Dublin is subject to a proclamation issued under the Peace Preservation Act of 1881, which makes the possession of firearms without a licence to keep the same, illegal. That proclamation was issued in December, 1881, immediately after the passing of the Act, and successive Irish Governments since that date have not seen their way to withdraw the proclamation. It is not the intention of the Government, as at present advised, to revoke it.