§ MR. HEALYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is the fact that the Police have prosecuted for riot the men engaged in the affray on the polling day at Wexford; and, if he intends to grant an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the bayonet charge, and by whom the charge was ordered? The hon. Member said, the Question now appearing on the Paper was not his, but that of the Clerk at the Table. What he originally asked was, whether the Government would prosecute every man whom their police had bludgeoned or stabbed?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, I was prepared with a very simple answer to the hon. Gentleman's Question as it appears on the Paper. I must say that, as far as I have got information—and I made the most careful inquiries, this being the first riot which has happened in Ireland since I have been Chief Secretary—I have ascertained that 23 or 25 policemen were wounded, four seriously; 299 whereas on the other side I cannot gather that anyone was seriously wounded, and it is only alleged that one man was rather seriously stabbed, and he refused to have his wounds looked at. [Laughter.] I do not say that one man may not have been injured with the baton; but that, as far as I could gather, I would have taken to be case, were it not for the additional Question of the hon. Member. Proceedings have been taken against the persons charged with rioting, and the inquiry before the magistrates will disclose the facts of the case. Pending that inquiry I prefer to say nothing more.
§ MR. HEALYsaid, at the earliest opportunity he would draw attention to this question. Hon. Members laughed when the Chief Secretary said the man wounded by the police refused to have his wounds looked at. But the man knew, which the House did not, that if he consented to go into hospital his name would be immediately taken by the police, and he would be prosecuted.