§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland whether, at the Portadown Petty Sessions on Monday last, a number of persons were charged with throwing stones at the police and with breaking windows in the houses of several inhabitants of the town; and were the accused indentified by police witnesses as being in the mobs by whom the damage was done; if so, what punishment did they receive.
§ MR. ATKINSONBy the evidence produced before the magistrates it was proved that the several persons charged were in the crowd from which the stones were thrown, but it was not established that any of them participated in the stone-throwing. On these grounds the magistrates, while most severely condemning the disturbances which took place, felt themselves unable to convict any of the accused. No punishment was, therefore, inflicted.