§ Mr. FETHERSTONHAUGHasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether the attention of the Law Officers or of his Department has been called to the practice of the constabulary authorities in charging expenses of witnesses in police cases who attend voluntarily and are able to pay their own conveyance against the county councils' funds under Section 4 of 14 and 15 Vic, c. 85, instead of under the head of prosecutors' and witnesses' expenses, thus throwing the burden on the county rates instead of on moneys provided by Parliament for expenses of Crown prosecution in Ireland; will he inform the constabulary authorities that Section 4 is only intended to apply to witnesses and others attending unwillingly, or for whose conveyance provision must be made if they are to attend at all; and is he aware that in a recent cattle-stealing case in county Mayo the police put the expenses of the willing and solvent prosecutor, the owner of the cattle, as a charge on the county under Section 4?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe matter referred to has recently been brought to the notice of the Irish Government. I am advised that these accounts have been prepared in strict accordance with Statute, and the Irish Government see no reason for departure from the existing practice. The answer to the final paragraph of the question is in the affirmative.