§ CAPTAIN NOLANrose to ask the Secretary of State for War, If any Officer stationed at Newbridge had been refused, verbally or in writing, leave to contest an Irish constituency; and was this refusal on account of his politics?
§ CAPTAIN NOLANsaid, that as he had received no Answer, and was not likely to receive one, he need hardly apologize for moving the adjournment of the House in order that he might explain the circumstances of the case, and the reasons that influenced him in giving Notice of the Question. The constituency of the county Leitrim had before them at the last General Election three candidates—one a supporter of the Government, and the other two opponents. One of those opposed to the Government was returned; the other, Captain O'Beirne, actually had more votes than the supporter of the Government, but he was not returned, some of the voters being disqualified by the Returning Officer on an alleged informality caused by his own subordinates improperly and informally marking the voting papers. He mentioned this to show that the gentleman to whom he was about to allude (Captain O'Beirne) was a bonâ fide and substantial candidate. That gentleman was an officer of the Army, and at the present moment was quartered at Newbridge. Now everyone knew that the representation of that county was practically vacant, though the writ had not been moved by the elevation of a supporter of the Government, Mr. Ormsby Gore, 180 to the Peerage by the death of his brother, Lord Harlech. This amounted practically to the refusal of permission to this officer to become a candidate for the vacant seat. He did not wish unfairly to blame the Ministry in this matter, and he did not charge them with having sent orders to Newbridge to place obstacles in the way of this officer proceeding to the West of Ireland because he was opposed to them; but to a certain extent the Government were, he thought, responsible. He knew that the Secretary of State for War could not be present that day, because they knew that the right hon. Gentleman had had an engagement of several days' standing to go to Shoeburyness to witness Artillery experiments. But on Monday the Ministry were aware that this officer had been practically refused leave to contest the vacancy, and they then had the means of influencing the military authorities in Ireland who had the power of granting him leave. In these days there was very rapid communication bytelegraph, and the Government ought to have known how to act without loss of time; and had he telegraphed at once to Ireland, he might have had an answer in three or four hours' time; but it appeared that an answer had only reached them at 11.30 that day stating that that officer had applied for leave from the 22nd to the 29th, which would be granted. That meant that there had been a delay of several days; for part of which the Government were responsible, and he could only say he should be sorry if the Party with which he was connected gained an electioneering advantage at such a price. He regretted that there was no Minister present to answer his Question, which referred to a political rather than a military matter. He would conclude by moving that the House do now adjourn.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed,
§ "That this House do now adjourn."—(Captain Nolan.)
§ SIR COLMAN O'LOGHLENpresumed the object of the Motion was to enable his hon. and gallant Friend (Captain Nolan) to make his statement, and if possible to elicit some explanation from some Member of the Govern- 181 ment. He saw one of Her Majesty's Ministers sitting on the front Government Bench (Sir James Elphinstone). If that hon. Gentleman did not afford some explanation, he should recommend his hon. and gallant Friend (Captain Nolan) to ask permission of the House to withdraw his Motion for the adjournment, and to bring the subject forward again to-morrow, when the Secretary of State for War would be in his place.
§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONEsaid, he had been so pointedly alluded to by the right hon. and learned Baronet that he could not avoid rising in answer to his appeal; but the fact was that he had no knowledge of the transaction they were discussing, and his geographical knowledge of the part of Ireland under discussion was very limited. But he thought that, instead of bringing that matter before the House, more especially on a Wednesday, when Ministers were engaged in important business in their offices, it would have been much better if that question had been postponed until it could be properly answered. The hon. and gallant Member had acknowledged that he was aware the Secretary of State for War was at Shoeburyness on public business. He would only add, without reference to this particular case, that he trusted that the number of military Gentlemen on full pay in that House might not be increased, and that the Conservative candidate at Leitrim might succeed.
MR. SULLIVANsaid, he had no doubt the hon. Baronet very earnestly desired that a Conservative might succeed in getting in for Leitrim county; but he (Mr. Sullivan) did not do the Ministry the injustice of thinking they would try to snatch a petty advantage by finesse and manœuvring. In an election contest an early start was half the battle, and it was well knownthat if one party could so manœuvre as to keep their opponent out of the county for five or six days, they could secure all the cars and the solicitors and laugh at him when he entered the field late. He did not for a moment suppose that the question affected the Secretary for War; but it was very well known that unless someone stood between Captain O'Beirne and the constituency of Leitrim for four or five of the most precious days in the campaign, by no means could that gentle- 182 man be defeated. It was not through any fault of his own or of his snpporters that he was not returned at the last election, but simply because the Sheriff's officers had put marks on voting papers.
§ MR. GREENEdeprecated the practice of moving the adjournment of the House on every trivial occasion—a proceeding which had been more frequently resorted to this Session than he had ever known before. He sympathized with the hon. and gallant Member for Galway (Captain Nolan), and regarded the question as one of considerable importance; but he thought that as the hon. and gallant Member knew that the Secretary of State for War would be absent that day he ought to have put off his Question till to-morrow. The candidate referred to would not have suffered by a day's delay, and he might by telegraph have ordered the "cars" for bringing up his voters if he wanted to engage them so early. It was not fair that a grave charge of that kind should be made in the House when no one was there to answer it, so that it might be represented by telegraph all over Ireland that the Government were intriguing against that particular candidate. No Government in their senses would be parties to so foolish a proceeding, and to bring forward such an accusation in so unfair a manner was like attacking a man in the dark.
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, it was an unusual course for an hon. Member to move the adjournment of the House on a Question, when those who alone were able to give explanations on the subject were not in their places.
§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYmaintained that his hon. and gallent Friend (Captain Nolan) was perfectly justified in the course he had taken. His hon. and gallant Friend had brought the matter to the notice of the Secretary for War on Monday last. Having consulted some of his friends, they advised him to go at once to the head of the War Department, instead of making it a public matter, in the full expectation that the right hon. Gentleman would at once telegraph and desire that the proper amount of leave should be given to Captain O'Beirne. Nothing of the kind, however, appeared to have been done, and then his hon. and gallant Friend put his Question on the Paper for the purpose of eliciting an Answer, 44 hours 183 having elapsed since he first brought the subject under the notice of the War Office authorities. The question whether the Ministry had impeded the nomination of a gentleman for a seat in that House was one of constitutional importance, and could only properly be brought forward on a Motion for adjournment. He submitted, indeed, that the conduct of his hon. and gallant Friend in the matter had not only been constitutional, but most conciliatory towards the Government. Although the writ for the election had not yet been issued, the Government candidate was already in the field, and it was perfectly idle under the circumstances to say that his hon. and gallant Friend had at all acted unfairly.
§ CAPTAIN NOLANsaid, he had given notice to the Financial Secretary of the War Department that he would ask the Question to-day. He had received from the hon. Gentleman a note dated 11.30 that morning, stating that no news had been received from Ireland; but a few minutes afterwards he understood that seven days'leave had been given Captain O'Beirne. This he could not but consider as wholly inadequate to the occasion; but as no end would be served by dividing the House under the circumstances, he begged to withdraw his Motion.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.