[ ' ] MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. Mercurii, 7° die Februarii, 1838. MEMBERS PRESENT. Mr. Serjeant Ball. Mr. Beamish. Mr. Curry. Mr. Dennistoun. Sir Robert Ferguson. Mr. Fitzstephen French. Mr. Milnes Gaskell. Mr. Hogg. Mr. Serjeant Jackson. Mr. Lefroy. Mr. Lucas. Mr. O'Connell. Mr. Morgan John O'Connell. Lord Granville Somerset. LORD GRANVILLE SOMERSET, IN THE CHAIR. Mr. Julius Caesar Besnard, called in; and Examined. y 1. Chairman.] ARE you a solicitor at Cork ?— I am. 2. Are you also town- clerk of that city ?— I am. 3. Mr. Serjeant Jackson.] How long have you held the office of town- clerk ?— Since the year 1831. 4. How long have you been resident in Cork?— Since my birth. 5. Are you very well acquainted with the city of Cork?— I am. 6. You succeeded the late Mr. Jones, who had been a great many years town- clerk ?— I did. 7. Was it any part of your duty, as town- clerk, to attend the first registry sessions under the Reform Bill ?— It is part of my duty to attend every registry sessions, in order to produce such documents as are necessary for authenticating the right of those freemen who may claim a right to register. 8. Of what classes does the constituency of the city of Cork consist?—- It con- sists of freemen, under the late Cork case established to be freemen, resident within seven miles, and the freeholders and the householders. 9. Householders of the value of 10 I. ?— Householders of the value of 10 /. and upwards. Freeholders of different classes; freeholders of 50 I., 20 I., and 40 s. 10. Did you, in point of fact, attend the first registry sessions in the city of Cork under the Reform Bill ?— I did. 11. Is it your duty to have the documents which serve to authenticate the right of the freemen ?— It is. ' 12. What are those documents ?— The grand panel, as they call it, is now considered to be conclusive of the person being a freeman ; I am speaking of the permanent roll of freemen; we call it a panel, because it is in a book. It is an authentic list of the freemen, and whenever the freemen are called over, that is the document referred to. I should say, that upon the first regis- tration, in the commencement at least, it was not determined what was the exact evidence, and I then had the books in which the original entries of the admission and the confirmation of the freemen appeared, and the certificates on stamps of the persons having been admitted. 13. Was it any part of your duty there to examine into or silt the right ot any" person that came forward to register ?— Not at all; I took no part 111 that. 14. You took 110 part in the business of registration, except your own particu- lar province, that of authenticating the claim of a freeman, when such person tendered himself to register ?— None. 15. Did you, in point of fact, pay attention to the course ot proceeding >— Ut course I observed what was going on. 16. When was that first registration held ?- I think it commenced in October 1832' B 17. Who Mr. J, C. Besnard. O. 46. 7 February 1838.