the case which render it inexpedient to inflict any punishment, it shall have power to dismiss the person charged without proceeding to a conviction. For the purposes of this Act, the court of summary jurisdiction shall, in the police district of Dublin metropolis, be constituted of a divisional justice acting for the said district, and elsewhere in Ireland shall be constituted of two or more justices of the peace sitting in petty sessions, of whom one shall be a resident magistrate, or of one resident magistrate sitting alone in petty sessions.

S. 6. Definitions. In this Act the expression "Lord Lieutenant" means the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland for the time being.

The expression "arms," includes any cannon, gun, revolver, pistol, and any description of firearms, also any sword, cutlass, pike, and bayonet, also any part of any arms as so defined.

The expression "ammunition," includes bullets, gunpowder, nitro-glycerine, dynamite, gun-cotton, and every other explosive substance whether fitted for use with any arms or otherwise.

S. 7. This Act may be cited as the Peace Preservation (Ireland) Act, 1881.

S. 8. This Act shall continue in force until 1st June, 1886. The Peace Preservation (Ireland) Continuance Act, 1886, 49 Vic., c. 27, repeals sub-section 4 of section 4 of this Act, and the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, 50 & 51 Vic., c. 20, s. 8 continues the Acts for five years and until the end of the then next session of Parliament.

ABSTRACT OF PRINCIPAL PROVISIONS OF ORDERS IN COUNCIL.

No justice of the peace, person in Her Majesty's naval or military service, or in the coastguard service, or in the service of the Revenue, or the Royal Irish Constabulary, or the Dublin Metropolitan Police, or special Constable, or person duly licensed to manufacture gunpowder, is required to obtain or have a license, under Act, to carry and have or have arms or ammunition in a proclaimed district.

The expression "person in Her Majesty's military service (used in last clause) includes every officer in, and member of the permanent staff of, the militia, but does not include any soldier on furlough, or any non-commissioned officer or soldier of the militia, unless while actually serving for purposes of training or exercise, or with his regiment when embodied.

Every person who shall obtain and have a license in the

prescribed form, called the prescribed license, may within the proclaimed district, carry and have, or have arms and ammunition, or either of them, as in the prescribed license mentioned.

License may be revoked. Any prescribed license may be revoked at any time, by the Lord Lieutenant, by order under his hand or under hand of Chief Secretary, and which order shall be published in Dublin Gazette, when the license shall cease and determine. A copy of such order shall be delivered to or left at the last known place of abode, within the proclaimed district, of the person named in such order. The Inspector-General and Deputy Inspector-General of R.I.C., and the Resident Magistrate in the proclaimed district, are appointed to grant licenses to carry and have, or to have arms and ammunition, or either of them, in the proclaimed district.

The Licensing Officer (Inspector-General or Resident Magistrate), will not grant a license to carry arms under the Peace Preservation Act, unless the applicant has first obtained the ten shilling gun-license and produced it. As a rule the Excise will not, in a proclaimed district, grant the gun license unless a Feace Preservation Act license is produced.

Selling arms or ammunition.—No person in the proclaimed district shall sell any arms or ammunition without having a license. Every such license shall specify the particular description of arms or ammunition for the sale of which the same is granted, and contain provisions for the safe custody of such arms. Such license may be revoked by order of the Lord Lieutenant in the manner above mentioned.

Every person having a license to sell arms or ammunition in a proclaimed district shall, on or before a day named in proclamation, return an account to the District Inspector, R.I.C., of all the stock of arms and ammunition in his possession, and shall provide a book in which the particulars of such stock shall be entered, and shall, in the first week of every month, make or cause to be made a like return and like entry. Every such person shall also keep in a book of sales an account of all arms or ammunition sold or disposed of, &c. Any Resident Magistrate or any District Inspector, or any person duly authorized by such Magistrate or Inspector, may examine such books, or the stock of arms and ammunition of such person, and com pare and balance the same.

The Inspector-General and Deputy Inspector-General, and the Resident Magistrate in the proclaimed district, are appointed to grant licenses to sell arms or ammunition, or either of them, in the proclaimed district.

Importation of arms or ammunition.-No arms or ammunition shall be imported into Ireland, except at the following ports, that is to say: Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Londonderry, Waterford, Galway, Sligo, Drogheda, Dundalk, Greenore, Newry, Wexford, and Larne.

Consignment of arms. No arms or ammunition shall be consigned to any person in a proclaimed district unless such person is licensed to sell the articles so consigned, or to have and carry the same, or is otherwise lawfully entitled to carry or have the arms or ammunition so consigned.

All arms and ammunition consigned to any person in Ireland shall be distinctly labelled with the name and address of the consignee, and also with the words "arms" or "ammunition as the case may be, and a written notice shall, before the consignment thereof, be given to the collector or other principal officer of customs at the port of consignment of the intended consignment and of the particulars of the arms or ammunition so to be consigned, with the name and address of the intended consignee.

It shall be lawful for any officer of Customs or any District Inspector or Head Constable, Sergeant or ActingSergeant of the R.I.C., or Superintendent or Inspector of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, to open and search any box or package containing or suspected to contain arms or ammunition. [This right of search seems only to apply where such box or package is imported into Ireland.] INSTRUCTIONS TO BE CAREFULLY CARRIED OUT THE CONSTABULARY OF ANY COUNTY OR DISTRICT PROCLAIMED UNDER THE PEACE PRESERVATION Аст.

BY

Licenses. The 1st section of the Act of 1881 (second paragraph) authorizes the arrest of persons carrying or having, or who are reasonably suspected of carrying or having arms in a proclaimed district, but certain persons are excepted in the Proclamation from the operation of its provisions, amongst whom are persons duly licensed in that behalf. A person so duly licensed to carry and have arms is not bound always to have his license with him and therefore cannot be legally arrested when carrying arms, because he is unable at the moment to produce it. In the event of a Constable finding a person carrying a gun or other forbidden weapon or ammunition in apparent violation of the Peace Preservation Act, if the person should allege that he is duly licensed in that behalf,

the Constable should take his name and address, and should not arrest him or seize his arms, unless he should have good reason to believe that such person is not duly licensed, and that he is giving a false name and address, or is likely to abscond.

In case the Constabulary meet a person of good character carrying arms without a license, and they have reason to believe that he is not wilfully breaking the law, no proceeding should be taken against such person until the case is reported and instructions respecting it are received, but the arms should meantime be retained by the Constabulary.

The Constabulary should not interfere with any unlicensed person having or carrying a gun for repair, if satisfied that such person has or is carrying such gun for repair with sanction of the licensed

owner.

Cases have occasionally arisen where the Constabulary have seized at railway stations, and other places, arms in transitu, belonging to persons who were going to certain places on business or pleasure, as for instance, to shoot upon moors, bogs, lakes, and estuaries situate in counties other than those in which they reside habitually, and for which arms they were not duly licensed. The Constabulary should not seize such arms, but should ascertain from their owners or the persons having the custody of such arms the place of their ultimate destination, and inform these persons that they must upon their arrival obtain a license from the Licensing Officer of the district with as little delay as possible. The Constabulary should, if necessary, report the case to head-quarters for further instructions, and a communication on the subject should also be made to the Constabulary Authorities of the District to which such persons may be proceeding.

It is to be observed that the Inspector-General and Deputy Inspector-General are authorized to issue general licenses for several proclaimed districts. Those licenses will only be given to persons whose business requires them to travel generally throughout the country. Persons holding such licenses should not be interfered with by the Constabulary. Persons resid

ing in proclaimed districts who require licenses for such districts only or adjoining districts must apply to the resident magistrates of those districts.

Arrests in general.-Though a Constable may have good reason to believe that a breach of the law has been committed, it should be a general rule that an arrest for a minor offence should not be made, unless it appears necessary for the purpose of insuring that the person offending shall be made amenable to the law. See Code s. 1873.

Search under Warrant.-The first section (fourth paragraph) of the Act of 1881 as amended, authorizes search to be made under the Lord Lieutenant's warrant, within ten days next after the date of the warrant, for arms and ammunition, at any time between sunrise and sunset in any houses, buildings or places situated in any townland or municipal ward specified in such warrant; this warrant is not to be executed except in the presence and under the direction of the person to whom the warrant is addressed, and the person executing the warrant should, if so desired, produce it.

Pedlars Act, 1871, 34 and 35 Vic., c. 96, as amended by 44 and 45 Vic., c. 45.-S. 3.-Terms defined. The term "pedlar" means any hawker, pedlar, petty chapman, tinker, caster of metals, mender of chairs, or other person who, without any horse or other beast bearing or drawing burden, travels and trades on foot and goes from town to town or to other men's houses, carrying to sell or exposing for sale any goods, wares, or merchandise, or procuring orders for goods, wares, or merchandise immediately to be delivered, or selling or offering for sale his skill in handicraft.

By Schedule to Act, the term "police district" means in Ireland, in police district of Dublin metropolis, the Commissioner of Police, and elsewhere, "any district, whether city, town, or county, over which is appointed a SubInspector of the R.I.C. ;" and the term "chief officer of police" means "the Sub-Inspector" (now District Inspector).

The term "Summary Jurisdiction Acts" means as to Irgland within the police district of Dublin metropolis, the Acts regulating the powers and duties of the Justices of the Peace, or the police of such district, and elsewhere, "The Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851," and any Act amending the same.

S. 4. No person shall act as a pedlar without such certifi