HC Deb 10 July 1905 vol 149 cc90-1
MR. CHARLES CRAIG

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the MR. Kelly, who has been appointed chairman of Loughrea District Council, is the Mr. P. J. Kelly who in November last, at a meeting at Loughrea, stated that people should be shot down for giving extravagant prices for land; and who, at a meeting on 29th December dealing with the negotiations for the purchase of the Clancarty Estate, said that if there were any renegades on that estate they would be shot down like dogs; and whether, seeing that MR. Kelly becomes a justice of the peace by virtue of his appointment as chairman of a district council, the Lord Chancellor intends to permit Mr. Kelly to retain His Majesty's commission of the peace, in view of the incitement to breaches of the peace which he has made.

MR. WALTER LONG

I have referred this Question to the Lord Chancellor, whose observations are as follows: "MR. Kelly became a magistrate under the provisions of the Local Government Act without the need of any commission, sanction, or approval from the Lord Chancellor, and he only thereupon became amenable to the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor under the enactment which places him in the same position as other Irish magistrates in respect of conduct after he became a magistrate; but this power does not authorise the Lord Chancellor to inquire into speeches made several months before his election."

MR. CHAELES CRAIG

Then if such a magistrate commits a serous crime has the Lord Chancellor no power over him?

*MR. SPEAKER

Order, order! That seems to be a hypothetical Question.

MR. CHARLES CRAIG

With all respect, Sir, it is not. [Cries of "Order."]

MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.)

It is a question of time. What is the limit of time which debars action by the Lord Chancellor?

MR. WALTER LONG

I really think my hon. friends are unduly pressing me. Obviously in a matter such as this I can only give the answer I received from the Lord Chancellor. I do not think I am called upon to say what he may do in certain hypothetical cases.

MR. SLOAN

But what is the length of period which debars action?

MR. WALTER LONG

I have given, the Lord Chancellor's reply. Until the person in question is made a magistrate and comes under his jurisdiction he has no power over him.

MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)

The Lord Chancellor refused to reprimand Sir; Douglas Brooke, an Orange magistrate, for a speech he made while a magistrate as to arming his tenantry with guns.

MR. FLAVIN

Is it not the fact that these men became entitled to act as magistrates under an Act passed through this House by a Tory Government?

[No Answer was returned.]