§ MR. O'SHEE (Waterford, W.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Declan Power, an evicted tenant on the Odell estate, county Water-ford, was recently imprisoned for contempt of court by the Land Judge on two occasions, the first for one year and four months, and the second for nine months; whether on the second occasion his wife was also arrested by order of the Land Judge and imprisoned for three months and twelve days for contempt of court; whether, seeing that the alleged contempt of court consisted in retaking possession of his evicted holding, he will say whether that offence is punishable by the ordinary law; and whether legislation will be introduced to prevent the jurisdiction in contempt 689 of court cases from, being applied to offences for which the ordinary law provides a definite penalty.
§ (Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The facts are substantially as stated in the first two parts of this Question, save that the imprisonment did not take place recently, but in the years 1897 and 1900 respectively. The offence of taking forcible possession is punishable by the ordinary law. As regards the concluding part of the Question, I beg to refer to the reply which I gave to the similar Question of the hon. Member for North Sligo on 20th March,† and to what was said by my right hon. friend the Attorney-General in the debate on this subject a few weeks ago.‡ The subject will not be lost sight of.