§ MR. BIGGARasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is true that a police barrack is about to be erected in the best and quietest street in the city of Armagh, to the injury of the vested interests of the occupiers and owners of dwellings therein; if it is true that the erection of the proposed barrack 1365 was arranged and agreed on without consulting any of the public bodies acting for the citizens; whether any notice was given asking for tenders for a new barrack, and if he will say what rent is to be paid, and the terms of years for which the barrack is to be taken; and, whether the Government will direct an inquiry to be made by some disinterested person or persons into this controverted matter, before any further steps are taken in it?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe hon. Member for Armagh (Mr. Beresford) also put a Question to me to-day on this subject, and I perceive that the hon. Member for Wexford (Mr. Healy) has a Question in reference to it down for to-morrow. The Inspector General of Constabulary informs me that the Town Commissioners were consulted by the architect relative to the proposed site, and consented to the building thereon; the site was selected by the County and Sub-Inspectors, who naturally may be expected to be the best judges upon such a question. Their experience is that the street is not so orderly as the hon. Member seems to imagine; and they state that the occupiers of the houses are, for the most part, not the owners, and that the real occupiers have no objection to the erection of the barrack therein. The architect did invite contracts for the building by printed notice, and the matter was ventilated in the local papers. I do not see any reason for interfering with the discretion of the Constabulary authorities, who, I have no reason to doubt, were anxious to select the most convenient site available.