§ MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he has any official information to the effect that the Mr. P. T. Walsh, recently elected chairman of county Waterford, is the same person who was recently a defendant in a United Irish League conspiracy case, and whether it is the intention of the Lord Chancellor to sanction his appointment as a justice of the peace.
§ MR. P. J. POWER (Waterford, E.)Is it a fact that Mr. Walsh was not convicted, although forty-three jurors were ordered to stand aside, and is it not also the fact that the majority of those on the bench which returned him for trial were against so doing?
§ MR. WYNDHAMI must ask for notice as to that. As to the question on the Paper, the reply to the first query is in the affirmative. Proceedings are pending against Mr. Walsh at the approaching summer assizes, and this being so, the question of his retention on the Commission of the Peace cannot be determined by the Lord Chancellor until after the trial.
§ MR. P. J. POWERBut is it not the fact that the jury disagreed, although forty-three were ordered to stand aside?
§ MR. WYNDHAMThey did disagree.
§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)Is not Mr. Walsh one of the most highly respected gentlemen in—
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order!