§ MR. HEALYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is the fact that the letter of Mr. P. W. Nally, repudiating the suggestion that he had turned informer, was cut out of the copies of the newspaper allowed within Castlebar Prison to his co-accused; who is responsible for this excision; whether, in view of the statement given in the House that, if it was not inconsistent with prison rules, such letter might he read by the prisoners, he will state with what prison rule Mr. Nally's letter is inconsistent, or why objection should be made to his comrades having the information it contained; and, whether it is true that detectives or other Crown officials have gone round among several of those prisoners, telling them that some of their number had turned informer, and that they had better also give information?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, I have received a Report from the Prisons Department, from which it appears that an 2083 extract from The Irishman, containing a letter from Mr. Nally, was cut out of the newspaper. That letter was not exactly of the character indicated in the Question, but complained that he was not brought up in Court with his fellow-prisoners, and that he was kept separate from them. The excision was made by the Governor of the prison, under the authority and discretion vested in him by Rule 24. I am not aware to what statement made in the House the hon. Member for Monaghan refers. I understood my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney General for Ireland to say that, though personally he saw no objection to the circulation of the paragraph among the prisoners, he thought it would be a matter for the prison authorities to decide. Neither detectives or Crown officials have gone round anion, these prisoners making statements of the character suggested.
§ MR. HEALYI may say, as the right hon. Gentleman has thrown some doubt on the matter, that the letter to which I referred was read out by me in the House; and I wish to ask him now what objection there is to Mr. Nally's letter being communicated to his fellow-prisoners, and whether there is any objection to cutting the letter out of the paper and enclosing it in an envelope to Mr. Nally's fellow-prisoners?
§ MR. TREVELYANI shall not interfere with the discretion of the prison officials in the matter.
§ MR. HEALYWell, then, I beg to give Notice that I will call attention to the mode of obtaining informers by the ruffianly system of Irish gaolers.