§ Mr. STAVELEY-HILLasked the Chief Secretary on what information he stated on the 21st June, 1912, that the late Lord Chancellor for Ireland, Sir Samuel Walker, who died on 13th August, 1911, had removed the name of Mr. J. K. O'Connor, of Castleisland, from the commission of the peace; whether, in a commission of the peace issued on the 19th November, 1911, the name of Mr. J. K. O'Connor still appears as one of His Majesty's justices for the county of Kerry; how many commissions of the peace were issued for the county of Kerry after that date; in how many of these commissions 57W of the peace the name of Mr. J. K. O'Connor appears; and on what date the last commission of the peace was issued for the county of Kerry in which the name of Mr. J. K. O'Connor appears?
§ Mr. BIRRELLWith regard to the first paragraph of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the question asked on this subject by the hon. Member for the Enfield Division on the 9th June last. From the time of Lord Chancellor Walker's direction to omit Mr. J. K. O'Connor's name from the next issue of the commission of the peace for the county Kerry no new commission was issued until about three months after his Lordship's death in August, 1911, and it-has now been ascertained that although Mr. O'Connor's name had been struck out of the official record kept in the Hanaper Office the name was inadvertently included in the commissions issued in the following November, and that in all eight commissions were issued before the name was in fact omitted, the last being dated the 16th February, 1912. Mr. O'Connor's position as a person disqualified by law from holding any judicial office could in no way be affected by any omission to remove his name from the commission. It would also appear that Mr. O'Connor ceased to attend Petty Sessions and act as a magistrate from the time he became disqualified in 1908.
§ Mr. STAVELEY-HILLasked the Chief Secretary on what information he stated on the 2lst June, 1912, that the late Lord Chancellor for Ireland had removed the name of Mr. J. K. O'Connor, of Castle-island, from the commission of the peace for the county of Kerry, as a result of the declaration of the Law made in the case of Rex (Matthew) v. M'Court, and which was pronounced on the 23rd of March, 1911; whether he is aware that in a letter to Pierce Gun Mahony, of Kilmurry, Castleisland, dated 26th April, 1911, after the decision in the case of Rex (Matthew) v. M'Court, the late Lord Chancellor declined to take any action with regard to the case of Mr. J. K. O'Connor on the grounds that the late Attorney-General, Lord Justice Cherry, had not reported the case of Mr. J. K. O'Connor, who had been reported for corrupt practices by Mr. Commissioner Maxwell at the Castleisland election petitions; and what correspondence has passed with reference to the case of Mr. J. K. O'Connor between Pierce Gun 58W Mahony, of Kilmurry, Castleisland, and the Earl of Aberdeen, the Lord Chancellor's Department, and the Department of the Attorney-General for Ireland?
§ Mr. BIRRELLWith regard to the first paragraph of the question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I have just given to a similar question. Assuming that Lord Chancellor Walker had declined in April, 1911, to take action with regard to the case of Mr. J. K. O'Connor, it is obvious that he changed his mind later on in the same year when he directed the omission of Mr. O'Connor's name from the Commission of the Peace. The correspondence of Lord Chancellor Walker with Mr. P. Gun Mahony is not now available.