§ Mr. BYRNEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that there is no power under the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, or otherwise, to arrest an alleged offender in Ireland upon an English warrant and transport him to England for trial unless such an offender be charged with an indictable offence; whether he is aware that desertion and absence without leave under the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, are not indictable offences; and whether he will accordingly give instructions forthwith to cancel so much of the recent Army Council directions with respect to persons who are-suspected of having gone to Ireland to evade military service as sanctions transportation without trial from Ireland to England?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI am well aware that desertion and absence without leave under the Reserve Forces Act, 1882, are not indictable offences, but the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851, contains a general provision for the backing of English warrants in Ireland and provides for the execution of warrants so backed and is not limited to the backing of the warrants for indictable offences only.