§ MR. AUSTIN (Limerick, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a vacancy exists in the clerkship of the petty sessions district of i Hospital in the county of Limerick; will he state under what circumstances magistrates are entitled to vote for the filling up of the vacancy; and will the Crown take the necessary steps to ensure that magistrates who have not qualified themselves by the legal attendance at petty sessions will record their votes at the election.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThere is a vacancy for a petty sessions clerk in the district mentioned. Magistrates only are entitled to vote who, being resident in the petty sessions district for which the election of clerk is held, are justices of the county in which said district is situated; or who, though not resident in the district, are in the habit of attending and acting as justices at the petty sessions court thereof. As a general rule, which, however, is subject to modification where exceptional circumstances exist, a magistrate cannot be considered as having been in the habit of attending and acting as justice at the petty sessions court, who has not attended at least four times in each of the three years next preceding the election, if he has been so long in the commission of the peace. After the election the names of the magistrates who have voted, with their qualifications to vote, are submitted to the Lord Lieutenant, who decides as to the right of each justice to record his vote.