§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLOn behalf of the hon. Member for East Mayo, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the recent decision of the Court of King's Bench in Dublin, to the effect that a person summoned before a Court of petty sessions to show cause why he should not give solvent bail for his future good behaviour, is not competent to give evidence by himself or any one else by way of showing cause; and whether, seeing that in the event of the accused being unable to give solvent security, or refusing for any reason to give bail, the accused may, under the law as it now stands, be sent to gaol for six or twelve months, without being allowed to give any evidence in his defence, and that the Court of King's Bench has also decided that imprisonment inflicted under such circumstances involves no punishment, the Government propose to introduce any legislation for the purpose of remedying this condition of the law.
§ MR. ATKINSONThe answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative. My attention was called to the matter so long ago as the year 1901, when I introduced a Bill to amend the law on this subject which was more favourable to the accused than the corresponding provision in the English Summary Jurisdiction Act of 1879. It was not possible to carry the Bill that session, but if there be any reasonable probability that it would be regarded as non-controversial I should be happy to reintroduce it forthwith.