HC Deb 12 November 1908 vol 196 cc552-3
MR. CHARLES CRAIG

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will ascertain from the Inspector-General whether in several cases during the past two years letters threatening with death or serious outrage have been received by local justices of the peace, the object being to prevent them from attending petty sessions; whether in other cases local justices have been boycotted or intimidated because they adjudicated at petty sessions; and will he state what action has been taken by the Government in such cases.

MR. BIRRELL

The Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary is not aware of any case in which threatening letters have been addressed to justices of the peace with a view to deter them from attending petty sessions. One magistrate has been boycotted and hooted on account of his action at petty sessions, and another was hooted on one occasion for the same reason, but on full consideration it was decided that the circumstances were not such as to justify a prosecution in either case.