§ MR. LONSDALEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the remarks of the Lord Chief Baron in opening the Clare Assizes on Thursday, that the state of the county was lamentable, that the number of cases specially reported as outrages since the last assizes in March were as many as ninety-nine, seventy-four of which were agrarian, that there were under constant 1671 police protection five persons, and as many as sixty-five were protected by patrol, and that there had been since the March Assizes forty-eight cattle-drives; and whether he can state why, having regard to these facts, so few cases were presented for trial at these assizes.
§ MR. CHERRYMy right hon. friend's attention has been called to a newspaper report of the remarks attributed to the Lord Chief Baron as stated in the Question. It is true that the county of Clare is in an unsatisfactory condition. An additional force of fifty-seven police has been appointed to the county under proclamation, and all possible measures are being taken under the ordinary law for the preservation of the peace and the punishment of offenders. The comparative fewness of the cases for trial was due to the fact that evidence against offenders was not forthcoming, but in this respect the state of the county is neither better nor worse than it has been for many years.
§ MR. JAMES CAMPBELL (Dublin University)asked whether any of the cases referred to by the Lord Chief Baron were agrarian cases, and whether in any one of the seventy-four cases referred to in the Question any person was put on his trial.
§ MR. CHERRYsaid he thought some were agrarian. In one case certainly a man was convicted and sent to penal servitude.
§ MR. LONSDALEDoes the right hon. Gentleman now admit that trial by jury has completely failed to get convictions?
§ MR. CHERRYNo, Sir, certainly not.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMOND,as Member for the constituency, asked whether it was not the fact that a large number of the occurrences reported as outrages were of an extremely trivial character which in England would not be ranked or reported as outrages at all; and whether any unrest that existed in Clare was not entirely traceable to the fact that land 1672 purchase, for some cause or another, was not proceeding there as in other parts of Ireland.
§ MR. CHERRYsaid that, so far as he knew, a number of the cases were trifling; but, on the other hand, there were undoubtedly some serious cases. Whether the condition of the county was due to land purchase not proceeding as rapidly there as in other parts, he did not know; but it was extremely probable.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDasked whether, in view of the undoubted fact that many of these occurrences were of a trivial character, some arrangement could not be made by the Government or others to analyse these occurences, so that the people of England might see they were by no means serious. Was it not a case of giving a dog a bad name?
§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGasked what ground the right hon. Gentleman had for saying that a number of these occurrences were of a trifling nature. Had he any specific information from the county inspector or the Judge of assizes?
§ MR. CHERRYThese cases regularly come before me, and I suppose I can judge for myself whether or not they are trivial. That is my opinion, but I do not know whether other people accept it.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDThey ought to accept mine.