§ MAJOR ANSONsaid, in the absence of his noble Friend (Lord Elcho), he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether there is any truth in the report that the Magistrates and Police Authorities of Lancashire had been unable in the Wigan district to protect workmen from assault, and that they have through violence and intimidation been forced to leave their employment; whether it is true that trains conveying these workmen have been attacked with stones and slag, to the bodily injury of the passengers; and, if these reports be true, whether he can explain the cause of the failure on the part of the Magistrates and Police Authorities of Lancashire to give that protection to workmen which every citizen has aright to expect in a free and well-ordered State?
§ SIR JAMES FERGUSSON, said, in reply, that he feared that it was true that the occurrences alluded to in the Question of the hon. and gallant Member had taken place, and that many workmen had been deterred by violence and intimidation from pursuing their employment. No special information had been received as to the acts of violence referred to, but it was not unlikely that the particular instance had occurred. He was unable to give satisfactory explanation of the reasons why better protection had not been afforded to those workmen and labourers; because it was only yesterday morning that it was learnt 1225 at the Home Office that the protection given to the colliers during the long strike had been discontinued. A deputation of colliery owners called upon the Secretary of State and complained that the protection afforded to the workmen had been withdrawn, and that not only were many of the workmen who had accepted the wages proposed by the masters compelled to return to their homes, but there appeared to be danger of the strike extending to other works. The Secretary of State telegraphed to the Chief Constable and to the Mayor of Wigan to know whether they had sufficient force at their command to protect the workmen in the discharge of their duties. The reply from both quarters being unsatisfactory, the Secretary of State immediately requested that detachments of troops should be sent to Wigan, and these troops were sent on in the course of the afternoon. By the direction of the Secretary of State he had written a letter to the Clerk of the Peace for the county of Lancashire, which was to be read at the Quarter Sessions, expressing a hope that the Magistrates would do all in their power to protect the workmen and preserve the public peace, and promising that whatever other assistance might be required should be given.