§ SIR HERBERT MAXWELLasked the Postmaster General, Whether Mr. Matthew Murphy, of Milford, county Cork, has been appointed postmaster of that town since his release as a suspect; and, if so, whether such an appointment does not involve a departure from the recognised procedure of appointing to 1255 offices under the Government only persons of good character? In putting the Question, the hon. Baronet remarked that the Question had been answered by the Government once in the negative and once in the affirmative.
§ MR. FAWCETTSir, I do not think that I have answered in a contradictory way. What I said was that I was making inquiries. My answer now is that as soon as the Land League was proclaimed to be illegal, I issued a notice to all persons in the service of the Post Office to say that they were forbidden either to continue or to become members of the League, and that if they did so they would be dismissed. Mr. Murphy was arrested just at the time this notice was issued. As there is no evidence that he was connected with the Land League after the notice was issued, and as he has given a promise in writing to have no connection with it in future, I thought it was only fair that he should be reinstated in the Post Office at Milford, which he formerly conducted satisfactorily.