§ Mr. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the charge of the right hon. Mr. Justice Johnston to the Grand Jury of the County Limerick, at the spring assizes in Limerick, on Friday last, in which his Lordship, referring to the statistics of crime and observations on the state of the county furnished to him by the constabulary, said that the Grand Jury knew the state of the county better than he, and that it would be impertinent in him to give them second-hand information which, if inaccurate, they would treat with contempt; and whether, having regard to the recent reprobation of the system by the Irish Lord Chief Baron in his charge to the Grand Jury at Mullingar, he will consider the advisability of putting an end to the practice of presenting Judges of Assize before their charges to Grand Juries with constabulary reports and comments on the state of the country, and providing 1026 some other means for the communications of the information contained in these reports to the public.
§ MR. ATKINSONMy attention has been drawn to the newspaper report of Mr. Justice Johnson's charge. I have already stated in reply to a Question of the hon. Member, that the report of the charge of the Lord Chief Baron which I have seen does not bear the construction he has put upon it, and contains no reprobation of the system whatever. The answer to the last query is in the negative.