§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Cork County, N.E.)To ask Mr. Attorney-General whether his attention has been called to the proceedings at the petty sessions court, Kildorrery, County Cork, on the 14th instant, on the occasion of the hearing of charges brought against Misses Kate and Hannah Nagle, daughters of Mrs. Alice Nagle, an evicted tenant, by the present holder of her farm; and if he will explain why the presiding magistrate adopted the unusual course of refusing an application of the defendants for an adjournment to the next petty sessions court to enable them to employ a solicitor to conduct their defence, which they could not do in consequence of the summonses having only been served upon them at 9 o'clock on the previous night.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) I have no power to interfere with the action of a magistrate in the exercise of his judicial discretion. I understand, moreover, that in this case the defendents have lodged an appeal against their conviction, and they will, therefore, have full opportunity of testing the validity of the resident magistrate's decision.