HC Deb 24 October 1912 vol 42 cc2350-1
18. Sir JOHN LONSDALE

asked the Chief Secretary if his attention has been called to the case of slashing and houghing cattle and horses in which damages were awarded at the Loughrea Quarter Sessions on Tuesday; and if he will state why the perpetrators of this outrage have not been arrested?

Mr. BIRRELL

Early in the morning of the 10th June last two young horses and two heifers, the property of C. Heagney were maliciously injured. The case is one of much barbarity and the outcome of a fierce family dispute. Two arrests were made, one man was discharged for want of evidence, and informations were refused against the other. The owner of the animals was awarded £60 compensation.

Mr. MOORE

Can the hon. and learned Gentleman tell us anything of the composition of the bench?

Mr. BIRRELL

No; but if the hon. and learned Gentleman himself had been on the bench, and had listened to the evidence then presented, I feel satisfied that he would have been unable to come to any other conclusion.

Mr. MOORE

Why do the police arrest persons under these conditions? Is it merely to bolster up the general inactivity of the Chief Secretary?

Mr. BIRRELL

Not at all. The people were arrested on what seemed a primâ facie case, but, as not infrequently happens, the evidence actually tendered before the magistrates differed in some very material respects from the evidence on which the police relied. The whole matter was a family contest, and one very difficult to get at the bottom of.