§ MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to the proceedings at the Cork Assizes on the 18th instant, in connection with the trial of a man named Cadogan, charged with the murder of a land agent named Bird; whether he is aware that on the long jury panel being called over, over sixty jurors were ordered by the Crown to stand aside; was this system of jury selection adopted with the sanction of the Law Officers of the Crown; and, if so, what were the reasons; and can he state whether there is any precedent at a criminal assize for ordering such a number of citizens qualified to act as jurors to stand aside.
§ MR. ATKINSONThe answer to the first and second paragraphs is in the 885 affirmative No directions other than those contained in the Circular of 12th February, 1894, addressed to Crown Solicitors, were given. The action of the Crown Solicitor in the present case was due to the fact that he was aware that efforts had been extensively and continuously made to influence the jurors in favour of the accused, and he reasonably believed that the men set aside would not, if sworn, have given an impartial verdict. It is impossible at such short notice to obtain particulars of the many instances in which as many or even a larger number of jurors were set aside. I may, however, mention the case of the Queen v. Morey, tried at the Cork Winter Assizes of 1893, when forty-one out of a panel of seventy-four jurors were ordered to stand aside.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANWhat reward will the Law Officers of the Crown receive for a service of this kind?
§ [No answer was given.]