HC Deb 30 March 1905 vol 143 cc1706-7
MR. DELANY

To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state what portion of the fines for offences of drunkenness imposed at petty sessions, Mountmelliok, go to the Town Commissioners; and whether he will instruct the police to prosecute all charges of drunkenness †See page 940. committed within the township in the town Court instead of at petty sessions.

(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) In the case of fines imposed at petty sessions for drunkenness committed within the town one-half of the penalty goes to the Town Commissioners and the other half to the police. The police, however, prosecute at the town Court in all cases of offences of drunkenness committed by residents of the town, in which case the entire penalty goes to the Commissioners, and they prosecute at petty sessions in those cases only in which the offender resides outside the town or his residence is not known. This arrangement, which has been in operation for the past twenty years, is regarded as equitable, in view of the concurrent jurisdiction in respect of the offence of drunkenness which exists between the town Court and petty sessions Court.