THE STATE OF IRELAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 230, 27 September 1881, Page 4

THE STATE OF IRELAND.

In opening the sessions at County Kerry (according to the Irish Times of July 14) Mr. Justice Lawson said. — The figures which he had now before him — figures which were carefully prepared and the accuracy of -which he had no reason to doubt — went to establish occurrences demonstrating that this county was in as bad a condition as it could be possibly imagined to be in. The few flgureß which he had before him would show that in the corresponding p«riod of last year the real number of serious offences which occurred in the corresponding interval bet wesn the two assizes was only 63. It had risen upon the preient occaiion to 155 — that is to lay, excluding larcenies, drunkenness, common assaults, and various offencei of that kind, there hare been between tht present time and the last assizes no less than 155 serious offences as compared with 63 on a former occaiion. The character of these offences was still more alarming when "they came to look into every case, because they consisted of outrages of & most dreadful kind— crimes upon persons, property, cattle, houses, and in fact he could only say that the picture they presented was really'and truly an appalling one, and demonstrating that the reign of law in thi? country is practically suspended, and supeigeded by some other different authority. There hare occurred since last assizes no less than 27 cases of arson and other wilful burnings, and that as compared with seven in the corresponding period last year. He found al*o a very suggestive fact, that there had been applied for at the present assizes no less than £1,954 for malicious injuries, and of that sum there had been granted £1,101, an amount three times as large as what had been granted in any period that they knew of He came to another class of offences — namely, sending threatening letters. Letters threatening to murder were 10 ; other threatening letters, 39. Now, these corresponded to 7 and 10, that was 17, as compared with th« number he has given (39 and 10), 49, which was more than three times the former number. Every other offence has gone on at the same ratio. Assaults, inflicting bodily harm, appeared to be 8 ; killing aud maiming cattle, 8 ; other malicious injuries, 10 ; seizins' arms, v. Reflecting on the description of ■ome |of these cases enough to make one's blood run cold— as, for instance, slitting the ears of some persons who had been suspected of baring paid their rent, and for no other reason. He would also refer to an occurrence which took place within the last ten d*ys, although the case was not ripe for trial at the present assizes, where a bailiff was shot in the arm, which had since been amputated. Now, out of the 155 offences, in only 32 were persons charged. He accounted for that by the fact that the people were afraid to come forward and give evidence; When it came to be known in the community that crime could be committed with almost certain impunity, they had nothing then to do but to trust to the forbearance of the criminal."