§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the action tried at quarter sessions in Rathkeale, on 15th June, in which Laurence Hartnett sued Head Constable Hyland, of the Royal Irish Constabulary, for false arrest and 287 imprisonment, and obtained a verdict of £20 damages; whether he is aware that the learned county court judge in charging the jury commented on the conduct of the head constable in dragging the plaintiff out of bed, handcuffing him, and marching him off to prison, although there was no evidence against him; and whether it is proposed that the costs of this action and the damages in which this head constable has been mulcted be paid out of the public funds, or that the head constable be recouped from the public funds for these costs and damages.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe facts are as stated in the first and second paragraphs, except that it is not true that the judge stated there was no evidence against the plaintiff. I may observe, however, that the judge has since written to the Inspector General stating "that although the defendant may have been technically wrong he acted absolutely right in the interests of justice and order. He arrested one who he had full reason to believe had committed an outrageous Whiteboy crime in a rather disturbed district. I would most earnestly recommend and pray that the State will see this first-class officer harmless from all pecuniary loss and otherwise." The head constable, having lodged an appeal to the assizes, the question referred to in the last paragraph will not be considered until the case has been disposed of.