§ MR. MANSFIELD (Lincolnshire, Spalding)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland will he state whether a gentleman, who is an ex-officio magistrate and who has 260 been deprived of his commission owing to imprisonment under the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, will receive a fresh commission if on retiring from the office by virtue of which he becomes an ex-officio magistrate he is re-elected for the same at any subsequent period.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) Under Section 12 of the Application of Enactments Order, which is identical with the 46th section of the English Local Government Act, 1894, a person who has been convicted of a crime and sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour without the option of a fine is disqualified from being elected or being a member of a county or district council. As he cannot, therefore, be chairman of either of these councils he cannot be an ex-officio magistrate. A commission is not issued to ex-officio magistrates of this class.