§ MR. ROWNTREE (Scarborough)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is the fact that a placard containing only an exact copy of a passage from a leading article of The Daily News, on the imprisonment, under the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, of the hon. Member for East Tipperary (Mr. Condon), and posted at Mitchelstown, has been defaced and torn down by the Constabulary, under the command of District Inspector Seymour; if so, why it has been torn down, and by virtue of what authority; and, if the placard has been defaced and torn down on any supposition of illegality, whether it is the intention of the Government to test the question of its legality by any proceedings against the proprietors and publishers of The Daily News?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)The District Inspector of Constabulary reports that great efforts have been made in the district of Mitchelstown to prevent the payment of the county cess, 407 which includes compensation awarded to Constable Leahy, and which the people, as a body, are willing enough to pay, if not interfered with by the agitators. Copies of a placard headed The Leahy Blood Tax, were posted through the town, and were so posted, in the opinion of the District Inspector, with a view to incite the people not to pay the county cess, and were calculated to do so. He accordingly ordered their removal. I have no doubt that the officer acted legally and rightly in the matter. If anyone who thinks himself aggrieved takes a different view, he can institute legal proceedings.