7 February 1838. 14 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE r / inimtv It lanre register in the city?— He Mr., c. Bernard. 9C, Does to° be held in the city. registers in the city when the county sessio PF ^ ^ ^ 97. But the registration can be made < iny Riding ?- Yes, by thes Reform Act first registration was to 98. Mr. Serjeant Jackson] By he « * m } d ; md b the same take place in the city of Cork, for tiewhoecountyo y, j in the Act the subsequent registrations were to take place Ea9St9RMrecorder's court of civil as well as criminal O^^ And^ the^ ffice ° of^ rccorder^ has- been filled by very competent persons there the most eminent gentlemen of the Irish bar acted as recorder 101. 102. Vou have jurisdiction to any extent m that court have not you ,- Yes the civil jurisdiction is to any extent; as to the criminal, it lias been said that the charter gives power to any extent, but no capital case has ever been tried ^ There is no instance of capital jurisdiction being exercised there, but minor felonies and transportable offences are tried there ?— Yes every week. 104. Would you say that upon the whole it is a court that has given general satisfaction ?— I am sure it has. 105. Mr. Serjeant Jackson.] The present recorder is a gentleman ot standing and great respectability, Mr. Robert Bennett ?— Yes, he is deputy recorder; he is the acting man. 106. The present registrar is Mr. William Waggett ?— Yes. 107. He, unfortunately, is in an ill state of health ?— Yes. 108. And Mr. Robert Bennett has acted as his deputy?— Yes. 109. Mr. O'Connell.] Is it not the fact that no gentleman at the bar ever stood higher than Mr. Waggett ?— No doubt of that. no. Mr. Serjeant Jaclcson.] It is a court still very well thought of by the citizens of Cork ?— Very well indeed. 111. Mr. O'Connell Would it not save the citizens of Cork a great deal of trouble, and facilitate the registry, if it was permitted to be done in the Re- corder's Court ?— I should think it would ; and in the first Bill brought in for the Irish Reform Act it was so printed, and I do not know why it was afterwards altered. 112. Mr. Serjeant Jackson.] Does not the circumstance of its being competent to any person that desires to register to give his notice to register for the city of Cork at the quarter sessions to be held at Kanturk, 30 miles off, facilitate very much the object of persons that wish to register without having a proper qualifi- cation ?— It must make it difficult to check it, of course, because if there is to be any evidence required to resist it, the witness must be taken there; at the same time it is a great hardship upon a man that wants to advance his claim to be obliged either to wait till September or else to go there. 113. It would be necessary to take witnesses from the very heart of the citv of Cork to Kanturk to investigate the qualification of the claimant ?— In a con tested case. 114. That would add considerably to the expense and difficulty ?— Yes yU5. Mr. 0 Cornell.] Both in establishing the right and in checking it?— 116. Do not you think that it is totally unnecessary where vou have such a in Cork '- 1 m re- registered within eight years b y Yes> he must be wlMrRefc ™ Bm in favour of the. party per' ^ nrTKOife^ t, 1C Iris" Act against the itnpro- » >• > 0 that besides not having an „ pp„ rtunity of checking am, ^^ ^ register