23 8 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE TIIE Mr. O. E. Barber. Not known from registered country districts, and they of course were very little known to you r at all t0 us There was one particular man that, after he was re: L2 March 1838, his land we ascertained from his landlord that he was a mere con- acre tenant; merely a man holding a small cabin, and occasionally getting an acre of land at one corner of the farm, and the next year another acre of land at another corner; he is a labourer, and the mode of payment is by giving an acre of land for him to cultivate for potatoes. 6041. Was that person registered ?— He was a man of the name of Bingham; he was'registered as a 10?. householder; he is a tenant of Mr. Busteed, of Ballinrea. , . 6042. Are the Committee to understand that you give this as an instance of persons who could never have been suffered to register, but who got upon the register then by reason of your want of preparation ?— Certainly. ^ 6043. Did that fellow pass without question?— On his own personal evidence he was admitted; we had no evidence to defeat him; we were precluded of our evidence, by reason of preventing those persons being examined that we had employed. 6044. Who were the gentlemen appointed in that district in which he was ? — Mr. Joseph Godwin, Mr. Edward Garde Rowland, and a brother of the same Mr. Rowland, whose christian name I do not recollect. 6045. ( To Mr. Colburn.) Will you look at the register, and see whether you find him ?—" John Bingham, farmer, Ballinrea; house and land at Ballinrea; householder, 10/.; registered 16th of October 1832." 6046. Chairman, to Mr. Barber.] Is that the man?— That is the man. 6047. Mr. Serjeant Jackson.] You are understood to say that his landlord told you that the nature of his holding was, that he had a cabin and took a con- acre, and one year took a patch in one part of the farm, and another year in another part of the farm ?— Yes. 6048. And that he did not take that as a tenant, properly so called, but as a payment for his wages as a labourer ?— Yes. 6049. So that he was not even a tenant from year to year, but a mere con- acre occupier of one patch one year and another patch another year, as a potatoe- garden ?— Yes. 6050. The three gentlemen that made the investigation in that district, what description of people were they ?— Mr. Godwin had been a respectable land- holder in the county, and so had Mr. Rowland; he was of the family of Mr. Rowland, of Hermitage, near Glanmire. 605 1. Were they all gentlemen competent in point of judgment, and respect able in point of character ?— I conceive so, certainly; they were well known. 6052. They were in attendance for the purpose of giving their evidence at the sessions ?— They were. 60.53. Should you have been prepared to bring them forward in evidence, if it had not been for that decision of the barrister, excluding paid agents -?— We should. 60.54. And you were thus precluded from applying the evidence of these gentlemen to the case of this particular man ?— Exactly so. 60,5,5. Have you a doubt upon your mind that the consequence must have been to introduce upon the register a great number of persons who ought never to have been there at all ?— I am quite convinced of it. 6056. In truth, you had no effectual check upon any persons that chose to present themselves and swear that they had value ?— We were deprived of a check. 1 6057. Were the remaining nine gentlemen selected by you in like manner, persons of like competency and respectability of character?— There were others ot them very respectable, others of them were not quite so respectable, but they were all persons of truth and integrity. 0058 All persons of good character, though not equally entitled to the rank ot gentlemen r— Certainly; Captain Allen, and Mr. Strange and Mr. Martin were ^ persons for the north suburbs ; Mr. Martin had been formerly a captain in ^ hey were all persons selected from the persuasion of the committee < . ineir ntness, and of their being persons entitled to credit, and persons ot competent