Judge O'Connor Morris.

HC Deb 04 February 1902 vol 102 cc372-3

MR. M'HUGH (Leitrim, N.)

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether his attention has been called to a notice of Motion standing on the Paper in reference to his honour, MR. O'Connor Morris, County Court Judge for Sligo and Roscommon†; and whether he can afford facilities for its discussion.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

Yes, my attention has been called to the notice of Motion standing in the hon. Gentleman's name. I do not think the discussion of the observations of judges is a course which should be adopted hastily, and as a matter of fact, I do not think it should be adopted. It may console the hon. Member to remember that the learned Judge's observations were directed, so far as I gather from the report, rather against the Government than against the hon. Member.

MR. JOHN REDMOND

My hon. friend has not alluded to any particular †The notice of Motion, which stood in the name of MR. M'Hugh, was as follows: "That this House resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House to consider the Report of an address delivered by Judge O'Connor Morris to the Grand Jury at Sligo on the 24th day of January, 1902, the complaints that have been made of the partisan character of that address, the action of the Grand Jury to whom it was delivered, the practice indulged in by his Honour of making pronouncements from the Bench in Sligo and Roscommon on questions of public policy, his Lordship's publication of partisan brochures on the land question in Ireland, and his fitness to hear and decide appeals from courts of summary jurisdiction in agrarian cases. recent utterance. It has been a notorious practice of this judge for years to write pamphlets.

* MR. SPEAKER

The hon. Member cannot go into that question.

MR. JOHN REDMOND

I wished to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he will afford facilities for the consideration of the well-known practice of this judge.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

I do not think I can afford facilities.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that never before has the Government denied the opportunity—

* MR. SPEAKER

Order, order!

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL

It has never been done before.