§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (for Mr. HEALY)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, in view of the powers of arrest and imprisonment for eighteen mouths given under the Protection of Person and Property (Ireland) Act, the Government will cease sending policemen to meetings to take longhand notes of a speaker's words, in view of the liability 152 to error of untrained men in accurately recording what has been said, and of the painful consequences which may arise to speakers owing to the longhand note-takers' errors or incompetency?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERThe only answer I have to give is that the Government have no intention of altering the present arrangements, under which they are kept informed of the proceedings at public meetings of the Land League.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (for Mr. HEALY)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is usual for the Government to send note-takers to public meetings in England; and, if not, whether the Government will consider the advisability of introducing the practice of the Irish Executive, in the case of public meetings in Ireland?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTIf it were necessary, in the interests of law and order, to send note-takers to public meetings in England, it would be done, as it is in the case of Ireland.