§ MR. M'FADDENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that in the town of Letterkenny there has been established and is held a town court, under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, for the hearing and determining of offences against said Act, and offences against Section 12 of the Licensing Act of 1872, committed within the boundary of said town; will he explain why the constabulary authorities have refused to prosecute before said town court for offences committed within the town boundary in cases where the offenders reside outside the township, particularly in cases coming within the 12th section of the Licensing Act of 1872,. although the urban council of Letterkenny and magistrates of the district petitioned the authorities to have all such offences committed within the town boundary prosecuted before the said town court, which petition has been refused; whether he is aware that by this action of the constabulary the urban council of Letterkenny are deprived of a considerable source of revenue owing to such prosecutions being conducted at petty sessions in the name of the constabulary as complainants; and whether His Majesty's Government will cause directions to be issued to the constabulary authorities that such offences be prosecuted in the several town courts in Ireland, so that the fines resulting there from may be available for the reduction of the heavy taxation with which all urban districts have to contend.
§ MR. WYNDHAMI am aware of the fact mentioned in the first paragraph. The rule is that in cases where the offender lives outside the town, or his address is unknown, the police prosecute in their own name before the justices in petty sessions, and not in the town court, one half of the penalties in such cases being paid to the town commissioners. All 77 other cases are prosecuted in the town court in the name of the commissioners, who receive, in these cases, the whole of the penalties. The rule has operated generally throughout Ireland for many years, and I am advised it should not be altered.