§ Mr. SANDYSasked the Chief Secretary whether it is intended to appoint Mr. Florence O' Sullivan, of Farranfore, county Kerry, to be a justice of the peace for the county of Kerry; whether this is the same gentleman who, when he was an ex-officio justice of the peace by reason of his position as chairman of the Kil-larney Rural District Council, refused, at the Castleisland Petty Sessions, to return for trial fifteen men charged with unlawful assembly and assaults on the police, the sheriff, and his bailiffs, by throwing boiling tar and lime into their eyes when these officers were executing at Kilmurry a writ of possession from His Majesty's High Court of Justice; and, if so, in view of the fact that Mr. Florence O'Sullivan's refusal to take action on this occasion prevented the defendants from being 2677W tried, will he explain why he now proposes this agentleman for appointment as a justice of the peace?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Lord Chancellor informs me that the name of Mr. Florence O'Sullivan has been submitted as a candidate for the county Kerry magistracy, but that he has not yet made a decision in the matter. I understand that Mr. O'Sullivan, when formerly an ex officio magistrate, did participate in the hearing of the charges referred to. I personally have had nothing whatever to do with the proposal that this gentleman should be appointed to the commission of the peace.