§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he can confirm or deny the statements made in the "Cardiff Western Mail" and the "South Wales Daily News," in reference to the anti-Irish riots at Tredegar, to the following effect:—That the houses of at least sixty Irishmen were completely gutted, and that all the furniture in these houses was burned in the public streets; that not only men, but women and children were attacked by the mob; that, in the house of Patrick Harrigan, the mob set fire to the bed on which his youngest child, a few months old, was sleeping; that a woman was, in one case, stripped naked, dragged through a street, and beaten to a pulp; whether many of the women and children had to take refuge on the mountains at Sirhowy, and remain huddled together there for the night under severe showers of rain, and whether others had to hide in the churchyard of the town; whether, in many cases, owing to the entire destruction of their furniture and the robbery of all their provisions and money by the mob, a number of women and children were left without food for twenty-four, and sometimes forty-eight, hours; whether one woman has already died from the shock, and what is the total of persons killed and wounded; whether a bad state of feeling was known to exist for a considerable time between the Welsh and Irish population of the town; and if any precautions were taken to meet a riot such as afterwards occurred; if he could explain why the fifty or sixty special constables who were sworn in on Saturday night were not employed in the early part of Sunday; and whether, if, when they were brought into action on Saturday night in defence of Mr. Spooner, in the Circle, they did not succeed in immediately dispersing the mob; whether it is true that the military sent from Cardiff were sent back in consequence of a telegram, and, in consequence of this delay, did not reach the town until three o'clock on Monday morning, when the rioters had completed their work; and, if so, who was the author of this telegram; how many of the ringleaders in this riot have been arrested; and, if a Special Commission 443 will be employed to deal with this outburst of crime?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURTSir, although I have had several Reports since last Sunday upon this matter, there are some details which I shall not now be able to answer. I can, however, answer the more important points. In the first place, it is unfortunately true that a very serious and disgraceful riot has taken place at Tredegar, in which a large number of houses of the Irish and their inhabitants have been attacked and injured. I am happy to say that it is not true that any person has been killed directly in consequence of these attacks; but there has been an unfortunate case of a woman who miscarried and died, it is supposed, from fright and alarm caused by those proceedings. It is true that there has been for some time a strong feeling of exasperation in that district against the Irish population. In consequence of the knowledge of that ill feeling, precautions were taken on the Friday and Saturday preceding that Sunday by increasing the Police Force and swearing in special constables. These precautions did not, unfortunately, prove adequate on account of the extent of the riot, and on Sunday morning I received an application for military assistance, and orders were given and a force sent accordingly. It seems there was some delay in the arrival of the military, into the cause of which I shall inquire; but I am sure it was not due in any way to the action of the local authorities. I am informed that 10 persons are under arrest for taking part in the riot, and that proceedings against them will take place on Monday next, when, of course, the facts will be more accurately ascertained than at present. As regards further details in the Question, I think it better to postpone them until that investigation has taken place. Since Sunday tranquillity has been preserved, and the precautions taken have proved adequate.
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNORsaid, he thought the answer was very satisfactory; but there were one or two points in reference to what took place on which the right hon. and learned Gentleman had given him no information. For instance, whether "in the house of Patrick Harrigan the mob set fire to the bed on which his youngest child, a few months old, was sleeping; and that a 444 woman was, in one case, stripped naked, dragged through a street, and beaten to a pulp;" whether the special constables were not brought into activity at an early part of Sunday; whether a number of women were obliged to take refuge in a mountain close by, and remain there under rain; whether the exodus of the Irish population from this district still continued; and, whether a man, who was brought up before the magistrates charged with throwing stones at the police, was let off with a fine of 10s.?
§ SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, in reply, said, that yesterday he sent down the Question of the hon. Member with a request that the information on the different points should be sent by telegraph to-day; but the replies received did not enable him to answer the Question fully. He found, however, that the statement about the woman being stripped naked, &c, was not correct. No doubt, as an attack was made upon these houses, a good number of these people were driven out. The special constables were spread over a wide extent of the town; but were unable to cope with the entire of the attack. He had no reason to think that the local authorities were to blame. As to the question about a man being let off with a fine, he had heard nothing of it.