§ MR. LEAMYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that on Sunday last a police constable entered the house of Mr. Patrick Kavanagh, Michael Street, Waterford, and, finding Mrs. Kavanagh engaged in reading "United Ireland," attempted to take it from her, and in the attempt threw her down, put his knees on her stomach and tore her clothes, while he searched her in a most insulting manner, Mrs. Kavanagh being unable to offer any resistance, as she has 1266 been for some time partially paralyzed; whether he also assaulted her daughter, Miss Kavanagh, and then proceeded to search the premises, knocking the furniture about in all directions; and, if these statements are correct, what course the authorities propose to take to mark their sense of such an outrage?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, he had made inquiry into this case, and found that the constable was guilty of this assault. He was not aware of the instructions that had been issued against seizing the recent numbers of United Ireland. He saw a woman reading a number of the paper, and wanted to take it. She resisted, and he then took it from her by force. The constable was summoned before the magistrates, and fined 21s. and costs. He denied the particulars of the aggravated assault; and he (Mr. W. E. Forster) imagined that the magistrates must have agreed with him, because the Mayor and one of the Justices present said that, although it was their duty to fine him for assaulting the woman, they believed he only did it in what he considered the discharge of his duty.
§ MR. SEXTONasked if the right hon. Gentleman was aware that some of the magistrates expressed their disbelief in the accuracy of his statement?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERI was not aware of that.