4o 8 MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE Richard Daly, Esq. held could produce 10/. over and above the rent?— That was his evidence; i recollect Mr. Hall came forward on another occasion ; he took a view of the 17 July 1838. holding of the claimant in the winter season ; I asked him what crops the claim- ant had in harvest the past year, and he could not tell me. 1 5383. Chairman.] Will you tell the Committee any instance in which the. evidence in opposition to the oath of the claimant was considered valid by Mr. Gibson ?— I cannot. 7 5384. When did you take these notes ?— In the very court. 15385. Did you take them all at the same time ?— Yes ; I took these in April 1836, and these were taken in October 1836. 15386. And these are all the notes that were ever taken by you?— They are, except those mere desultory things, mere fragments, if I may use the expres- sion, which I threw away at the time. 15387. Mr. O'Connell These are the only notes you preserved?— Yes. 15388. Chairman.] Can you state, from your recollection, any of the circum- stances which occurred upon the registration of Thomas Murray in 1836?— | i I cannot; I have taken no note of that. 153S9. Do you or not remember Mr. Battersby quoting the authority of the Galway Case for the rejection of the claimant ?— Not that I recollect. 15390. Do you remember his quoting the case of a decision of the Committee of the House of Commons ?— I do; I recollect his alluding to the decision of the Committee. 15391. In what way did the registering barrister treat that decision?— The reply I made, if you will allow me to state it, was, that the decisions of Committees was not a very correct standard to go by; and consequently the Galway Case, or the case Mr. Battersby cited, was not to be considered altogether as a stringent or binding authority. 15392. Did Mr. Gibson say anything to the effect, that he was not bound by that decision ?— He might have said that. 15393. Did he allude to a notion which he entertained, that the decisions of Committees of the House of Commons were not of much value ?— I cannot state with accuracy whether he used those expressions, but I know I mentioned that those decisions were so conflicting and so vacillating. 15394. That those decisions were supposed to be made rather according to the prevalent political opinions of the Committee ?— Yes ; in some cases the decisions of Committees have over- ruled the decisions of the Judges of Ireland. 15395. Mr. Gibson made observations to that effect?— No, I made them. 15396. In the case of John Claffy, does it not appear upon your notes that Mr. Gibson gave, as his reason for admitting that individual to register, or rather in confirmation of his opinion upon the subject, that a Bill which had just then passed the House of Commons laid down the law as he wished ?— That was as to the beneficial interest. 15397. He thought the passing of that Bill, at that particular period, in the House of Commons, was an argument in favour of his view of the subject ?— That it was a key to the intentions of the Legislature, as evidenced by the Reform Act. 15398- Tlien considered the decisions of Committees acting upon oath could not be of much value, because they might be influenced by party feelings; but he did not consider a Bill going through the House of Commons was likely to be passed by means of party feeling ?— I cannot concede the premises, for I cannot accurately state that Mr. Gibson spoke slightingly of the decisions of Committees in the language they made use of, or in language of that import; but lie undoubtedly stated that he took the intention of the Legislature with regard to that Bill, which I believe was introduced by the present Master of the Rolls in Ireland, who was then Mr. Serjeant O'Loglilin, as a key, or as evidence with regard to the construction of the phrase " beneficial interest," as used in the preamble of the Reform Bill. 15399- He took a Bill, which passed through the House of Commons, and was not adopted by the Legislature, as an argument in favour of his own con- struction of the statute ? — He took it as furnishing a key to the intentions of the Legislature. 15400. Will you read the words of your own note ?— The court said " I am of opinion that the beneficial interest is the standard to go by, and that the late Bill which passed the House of Commons is conclusive 011 this subject." 15401. Is