§ MR. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the language used by County Judge Curran, when addressing the Grand Jury at Quarter Sessions, held in Mullingar on 16th October, when the judge, referring to a resolution recently passed by the County Council refusing to heat the courthouse on account of the action of the sheriff in preventing the erection of the national flag on the courthouse, said that if he had the proposer and seconder of that resolution before him, he would send them to gaol for contempt of court; and whether he will call the attention of the Lord Chancellor to the language used by the learned judge on that occasion.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURI have referred this question to Judge Curran for any observations he might have desired to offer, but he respectfully declines to answer any question asked in Parliament as to anything said or done by him in his judicial capacity. I may 505 observe, however, that the conduct of the County Council was a deliberate violation of their statutory duty, most reprehensible in its character, and deserving of the censure of the learned judge, inasmuch as it was calculated and intended to interfere with the administration of justice in his court. It is not my intention to make any representations to the Lord Chancellor on the subject.