THE IRISH COERCION BILL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3050, 5 April 1881, Page 3

THE IRISH COERCION BILL.

The Bill for the better protection of pereon and property in Ireland consists of three clauses only, and is prepared and brought in by Mr W. B. Forster, Mr Gladstone, and Sir William Hareourt. The following is the text of the Bill:—"Beit enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :—"First Clause. —(1). Any person who is declared by warrant of the LordLieutenant to be reasonably suspected of having, either before or after the passing of this Act, been guilty as principal or accessory of high treason, treason-felony, or treasonable practices, wherever committed, or of any crime punishable by law committed in a prescribed district, being an act of violence or intimidation, or the inciting to an act of violence or intimidation, and tending to interfere with or disturb the maintenance of law and order, may be arrested in any part of Ireland, and legally detained during the continuance of this Act in such prisons in Ireland as may from time to time be directed by the Lord-Lieutenant, without bpil or mainprize, and shall not be discharged or tried by any court without the direction of the Lord-Lieutenant; and every such warrant shall be conclusive evidence of all matters therein contained, and of the jurisdiction to issue and execute such warrant, and of the legality of the arrest and detention of the person mentioned in such warrant. (2). Any person detained in pursuance of a warrant under this Act shall be treated as a person accused of crime, and not as a convicted prisoner. (3.) A list of all persons for the time being detained in prison under this Act, with a statement opposite each person's name of the prison in which he is detained for the time being, and of the ground stated for his arrest in the warrant under which he is detained, shall be laid before each House of Parliament within the first seven days of every- month during which Parliament is sitting. (4.) Prescribed district means any part of Ireland in that behalf specified by an order of the LordLieutenant for the time being in foi'ce, and the Lord-Lietenant, by and with the advice of the Privy Council in Ireland, may from time to time mate, and, when made, revoke and alter, any such order. Second Clause.—(l.) Any warrant or order of the Lord Lieutenant .under this Aot may be signified under his hand, or the hand of the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, and a copy of everywarrant.- under this Act shall within seven; days after the execution thereof be transmitted to the. Clerk of the Crown for the county of: ———, the City of Dublin, and be filed by him in his public office in that city. (2.) The Lord Lieutenant by and with the advice of the Privy Council in Ireland, may from time to time make, and, when made, revoke and alter an order prescribing the forms of warrants for the purposes of this Act, and any forms so prescribed shall, when used, be valid in law. (3.) Every order under this Act shall be published in the Dublin Gazette, and the production of a printed copy of the Dublin Gazette, purporting to be printed and published by the Queen's authority, containing the publication of any order under this Act, ehall be conclusive evidence of the contents of such order, and of the date thereof, and of the same having been duly made. (4.) The expression " Lord Lieutenant" means the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland for the time being. Third Clpuse: This Act shall continue in force until the Thirtieth day of September, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-Two, and no longer."