S E L E C T C O M M I T T E E ON F I C T I T I O U S V O T E S , I R E L A N D . 175 / of Mr. Tuite, they were admitted upon the registry in the first instance upon Mr. E. Rooney. the ground that Mr. Tuite's title could not be investigated, and then their claims were investigated before the Committee of The House of Commons; and the 22 Ma. v 183& Committee rejected their right to vote, and then they were re- admitted by Mr. French, he not having a power to investigate Mr. Tuite's title ?— There were various arguments between the lawyers that I did not understand, but the ulti- mate decision of the barrister was to admit the men. 11203. Did you or not understand Mr. French to imply that he could not, under the provisions of the Reform Bill, investigate whether Mr. Tuite had a good or a bad title ?— I believe that was one of the arguments, but I know there was another argument also, that Mr. Courtney should produce a particular description of evidence to show that they were struck off by The House of Commons. 11204. Then Mr. French admitted those individuals, because he thought the evidence of their being struck off by the Committee of The House of Com- mons was not sufficient ?— I could not give an answer to that either one way or another; but all those arguments were used, and the end of the thing was that he was admitted. 11205. Did Mr. French state the grounds of his admitting him?— He did. 11206. Can you state upon what ground Mr. French did admit him ?— I can- not positively. 11207. Were those persons objected to upon the ground of value ?— Every man was objected to upon the ground of value, inasmuch as Mr. Courtney cross- examined every man most minutely before he was allowed to be passed; and when the question of value was decided, Mr. Courtney then objected to them as having been struck off by a Committee of The House of Commons, being one of Mr. Tuite's tenants ; and that was overruled. 11208. Did Mr. French admit those individuals upon the ground that there was sufficient evidence of their value, and also upon the ground that he could not examine into any deficiency of title if it existed, or did he in any way express the grounds upon which he did admit those parties ?— I have 110 note of that before me, and therefore I cannot exactly say. 11 209. Mr. Curry. Do you know of persons of the names of John Farrell, Michael Cunningham, and Philip Brady being registered ?— Yes, I do. 11210. Turn first to the case of John Farrell ?— I find that he is one of the 93 that had been struck off by The House of Commons claiming to be regis- tered, and he proved his own case in the first instance himself, and then he- produced Messrs. Ireland and Parke, two persons whom he had procured to have his land valued, and they gave testimony before the barrister that his interest was much more than 10 I. a year. 11211. At what sessions was that?— At the October sessions in 183/. 11^ 12. Did you yourself examine Farrell's farm at any time?— I did pre- viously to the petition in 1837. 11213. How many acres of land has he ?— Thirteen acres, thirty five perches. 11214. What rent was he subject to ?—£. 20. 16 s. 4 d. yearly. 11215. Did you value that farm by the acre, taking it one acre with another ? — At that time we valued it generally by the acre ; I valued it at 50 s. an acre. 11216. According to your valuation could a solvent tenant have afforded to give Farrell 10 /. a year for his interest in the farm over and above the rent he paid?— Certainly he could; I am sure of it. 11217. Did you make any calculation to enable you to judge of the beneficial interest that Farrell had in that farm ?— Yes ; at that time we were not very particular with regard to calculating beneficial interest, because we had got no particular instructions ; we merely valued the farm in the regular way by viewing the houses, and taking the number of acres under oats and potatoes, and so forth 11218. Did you go to value Farrell's farm ?— Yes. 11219. At what time of year was it that you valued Farrell's farm ?— In February 1837. 11220. Was the crop at that time sown ?— There was very little business done at that season; there was nothing in the ground. 11221. How many acres of ground had he prepared at that time for oats ?— The average of the year before was what I had principally from him. He had two acres of oats on that farm, two acres of potatoes, one acre of wheat, and one acre of meadow, and one acre of rape, and the remaining six in grazing. 643. c c 2 11222. Did