asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will furnish the hon. Member for West Cavan with the names of the eighty-six Catholic magistrates for Cavan as set out in the Return to the hon. Member for South Down, No. 369; will he say from what source the figures set out in the said Return were procured; and, if the figures in this Return for county Cavan be wrong, will he state what are the true figures?

The Lord Chancellor informs me that it is not the practice to identify the magistrates belonging to any religious denomination by giving their names; but of the eighty-six magistrates of the county Cavan who were stated in the Return referred to as belonging to the Roman Catholic religion, the information in that respect was in seventy-seven cases obtained from the magistrates themselves, and in the other nine cases from personal knowledge or official sources.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the only public record available to Members of this House shows there are only sixty-seven, and not eighty-six?

I do not know. If seventy-seven gentlemen say they are Roman Catholics I cannot help them.