§ COLONEL NOLANasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is true that in the province of Leinster there is not one of the Crown Solicitors who is a Roman Catholic, and if it is now intended to appoint a gentleman, not a Roman Catholic, from the north of Ireland to the office of Crown Solicitor for the county of Kildare which is at present vacant?
§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORBefore the right hon. Gentleman answers that Question, I would wish to ask him, Whether the newly appointed Crown Solicitor is the same Mr. Givan who in September last declared at a banquet in the County Monaghan that he would not accept any appointment from a Government who would not grant the entire of the Amendments of the Land Act demanded by the tenantry of Ulster; and, if so, whether we are to gather from the fact of the appointment that the Government are to bring in a Bill embodying Mr. Givan's views?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe only information I can give the hon. Member is that the Mr. Givan who has accepted the Crown Solicitorship for Kildare is the Member for Monaghan. With reference to the Question of the hon. and gallant Member, the question of religious profession does not appear to have been at any time much considered in connection with the provincial distribution of Crown Solicitors. Although I have not positive information on the subject, I believe that the hon. and gallant Member is correct in his description of the religion of the Crown Solicitors 227 in Leinster; while, on the other hand, in several counties of Ulster, having a large proportion of Protestant inhabitants, the office is filled by Roman Catholics. I believe that up to the present date there is only one Crown Solicitor in Ireland who is a Presbyterian, to which body the hon. Member for Monaghan (Mr. Givan) belongs.
§ MR. CALLANasked whether, under the circumstances, it was the intention of the Government to issue a now Writ for the election of a Member for Monaghan County.
[No answer was given to this Question.]