MR. POWER (Waterford, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Sir William Paul, Baronet, recently convened, at the suggestion of the Lord Lieutenant of the county, a meeting of magistrates at the Courthouse, Waterford, to consider the licensing question; and that the High Sheriff of the County Mayo recently expelled from the Court-house, Castlebar, the county councillors of that county who had assembled for the transaction of county business, and who, on its conclusion, proposed presenting an address 825 of thanks to the hon. Member for Cork City for his efforts in connection with the redistribution of land among the small farmers of the county; has the; High Sheriff' of a county in Ireland the right of attending meetings of County Councils, and the power to decide what matters may be considered by the County Council; and, seeing that the Court-houses are maintained by the rates levied by the County Council, will he take steps to secure to the elected representatives of the ratepayers the same right as non elected bodies to the use of Court-houses.
§ MR. WYNDHAMI have no knowledge of the meeting referred to in the first part of the Question. The High Sheriff of Mayo did not recently expel the county councillors of Mayo from the Court-house at Castlebar. He informed them that they should be allowed to use the Court-house for the transaction of their duties, but that he would not permit it to be used for the purpose of a political demonstration. The councillors thereupon quietly withdrew. The intention to hold a demonstration of this character in the Courthouse was announced in the Mitropolitan and local Nationalist press. The custody and control of the Court-house is vested in the High Sheriff by virtue of his office.