§ SIR WALTER NUGENTI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been called to the recent prosecution for alleged cattle - driving in Kilbeggan, County Westmeath; if he has any official information showing that the defendants thought they were carrying out a contract with the owner of the land, and not violating the law, is he aware that the evidence of the parish priest and the late occupier bears out this contention, and that it was admitted, during the hearing of the case, that the herds employed to look after the land assisted in removing the cattle; and whether in view of these facts, he will endeavour to get the alternative sentence of three months imprisonment passed on the defendants mitigated.
§ MR. BIRRELLI have no power to interfere with the decision of the magistrates in this case, nor would it be proper for me to discuss the evidence on which they acted.