HC Deb 18 March 1908 vol 186 cc577-8
MR. T. L. CORBETT () Down, N.

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether it is the practice to exclude from the Returns of Agrarian Crimes cases of cattle-driving in which it has come to the knowledge of the police, either from their own personal observations or as the result of investigations made by them, that three or more persons were engaged in the drivings, and that they were accompanied by circumstances of terror sufficient to constitute an unlawful assembly, but in which cases it has been found impracticable to institute proceedings for the indictable offence owing to the inability of the police to identify the offenders or the unwillingness of herds or other persons to give evidence; and, if so, what was the number of such cases excluded from the statistics of agrarian crime in the year 1907.

I beg also to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the constabulary authorities have considered the question of recording under the heading "intimidation" cases of cattle-driving which, for technical reasons, are not regarded as falling within the category of crimes known as unlawful assemblies; and, if so, what are the reasons against the adoption of the former system of record.

I beg further to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland upon what principle it has been decided to record in the statistics of crime cases of threatening notices or letters, while the great majority of cases of cattle-driving, of the genuineness of which the police are satisfied, are excluded from record in such statistics.

THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. BIRRELL,) Bristol, N.

The Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary informs me that no such cases as are referred to in the first of the hon. Member's Questions have been excluded from the Returns of Agrarian Crime. In reply to the second Question, offences are only recorded under the heading of intimidation when acts calculated to cause terror are committed or when personal violence is threatened. As regards the third Question, the offence of sending a threatening letter is a felony punishable by penal servitude and is therefore necessarily included in the Returns. The question whether cattle-driving is an indictable offence depends entirely upon the circumstances of the particular case. None but indictable offences are included in the Returns of Agrarian Crime.