§ QUESTION—OBSERVATIONS.
THE EARL OF CAMPERDOWNMy Lords, I think it is desirable that the House should have exact and accurate information with regard to the working of the Criminal Law Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, especially with regard to the operation of that part of Section 2 under which charges for intimidation, criminal conspiracy, or using violence are triable simply before two Magistrates, and in which the right of trial by jury is taken away from the person accused. I therefore wish to ask Her Majesty's Government: (1) How many persons are now in prison in Ireland under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1887; (2) How many persons have been proceeded against, and how many have been sentenced to imprisonment under the Act, since 1st January, 1892; (3) In how many counties or parts of counties is that portion of the Act in force which confers on Magistrates summary jurisdiction, as regards criminal conspiracy, using violence, or intimidation; (4) Has the area in which this portion of the Act is in force been reduced since 1st January, 1892?
§ EARL CADOGANMy Lords, in reply to the first question of my noble Friend, I have to say that there are at the present time only two persons in the whole of Ireland in prison under the Criminal Law Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, while the daily average number of prisoners under this Act during its earlier application, namely in the June quarter of 1888, was as high as 118. In reply to the second question, since 1st January, 1892, 74 persons have been proceeded against under this Act, and of these 66 were convicted; but the Magistrates felt themselves able to deal with fifty of these cases by merely ordering the defendants to enter into sureties or recognisances, and sixteen persons only have been sentenced to imprisonment under the Act since the commencement of the year. Of those sixteen, as I have already stated, two 1884 only are in custody: one undergoing a term of three calendar months' imprisonment, dating from the 4th April, under conviction and sentence for intimidation committed in the County of Clare; and the other undergoing a like term of imprisonment, dating from the 8th April, for the offence of taking forcible possession. With regard to the third and fourth questions, the areas in which the Summary Jurisdiction Clause of the Act has been enforced in regard to criminal conspiracy, intimidation, and using violence have been reduced from time to time as the condition of Ireland warranted, until they became limited on 13th June, 1891, to the County of Clare and to parts of the Counties of Donegal, Galway, and Tipperary. On 25th April, 1892, it was found to be no longer necessary to maintain the summary jurisdiction of Magistrates under the Act in the last three counties named, so far as regards the offences above specified, and their proclamation was on that date revoked by the Lord Lieutenant in Council; so that at the present time the only area in the whole of Ireland in which that clause is operative is the County of Clare.