§ MR. WINGFIELD VERNERasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether the Irish Government will give favourable consideration to the desire recently expressed in a Petition to the House by a very large number of the inhabitants of the county of Armagh, that the Proclamation of that county should be withdrawn?
THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON, in reply, said, that not having seen the Question till the morning, he had had no opportunity of seeing the Petition to which his hon. Friend referred; but he would take care to do so without delay, and the prayer to it would, of course, receive his most careful consideration. He might remind the hon. Member, however, that in reply to a Question put some time ago by the hon. Member for Dundalk (Mr. Callan) he stated that although Her Majesty's Government was happy to acknowledge the state of many counties in Ireland to be perfectly satisfactory, or very nearly so, as regarded the absence of agrarian crime, yet in the opinion of the Government reasons existed for not taking the proclamations altogether off those counties. He might also add that instructions had been given to the licensing officers under the Peace Preservation Acts to allow licenses to be granted in such counties as far as possible, except for rifles, pistols, and other fire-arms of a military character.