MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)I beg-to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is he aware that the policeman convicted of bigamy at the last Cork Assizes and sentenced severely by Mr. Justice Kenny, was released in a fortnight; also, that the soldier convicted of bigamy at a previous Cork Assizes and sentenced by Mr. Justice O'Brien, was released within a week; and, are such remissions of sentences usual?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI am in-formed that Constable Quane was convicted of bigamy at the last Cork Winter Assizes, and sentenced by Mr. Justice Kenny to 15 months' imprisonment. Acting on the recommendation of the learned Judge, the Lord Lieutenant ordered the discharge from prison of Quane when he had served one month of his sentence. The prisoner, I understand, had been four months in prison before the Assizes awaiting his trial. His conviction resulted also in his dismissal from the Constabulary Force, in which he had completed 24 years' service, and the loss of a pension to which another year's service would have entitled him. The soldier convicted of bigamy at a previous Assizes at Cork was released on the recommendation of Mr. Justice O'Brien. I am not in a position to say to what extent similar remissions of sentences have occurred, but of course every case is considered on its merits.