HC Deb 19 June 1882 vol 270 cc1591-3
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL,

in whose name the following Notice appeared on the Paper:— To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether he has any information as to the movements, since their release, of those suspected of crimes of violence, which would show whether they had or had not gone to reside in those neighbourhoods in which murders have been committed since their release; said, that before he put his Question he wished to ask the Speaker's direction on a point of Order. That Question had undergone very severe expurgation at the Table. As originally handed in by him, it was in these terms. He proposed to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, How he reconciled the release from prison of John Ryan and Michael M'Sweeney, who had been arrested on suspicion of murder, with the assurance which he had given on the 8th of May that none of the "suspects" who had been charged with murder would be released? The point he desired to submit to the Speaker was, how an hon. Member was to proceed when he wished for information on a Question, an answer in reference to which given by the Representative of a Department in the House was at variance with a statement in the printed Papers published by that Department?

MR. TREVELYAN,

in reply, said, he thought the course taken by the hon. Baronet opposite (Sir Herbert Maxwell) was rather an unfair one. The first form in which he (Mr. Trevelyan) had seen the Question was the form in which it appeared on the Paper. He thought the usual course in a case of the kind was first to inquire privately whether there was any alteration in the Question. ["No, no!"] Ho had not been a party to any alteration of the Question.

MR. SPEAKER

said, that the right hon. Gentleman was not bound to answer any Question other than that on the Paper, unless he desired so to do. With regard to the point of Order, no doubt certain expressions might, and had been struck out of the Question by the Clerk at the Table, because they involved matter of controversy and might cause debate. If anything was imported into a Question which necessarily must lead to debate, or involved such debate, that part of the Question was properly struck out. He apprehended the hon. Member had been informed of it.

SIR HERBERT MAXWELL

No, Sir.

MR. SPEAKER

The hon. Member should have been informed of it.

MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR

asked whether it would not be desirable to make an arrangement for some information to be given to hon. Members where they inadvertently and unwittingly offended against this unwritten law as regarded putting down Questions?

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

asked whether there was any appeal from the decision of the Clerk at the Table?

MR. SPEAKER

said, there was an appeal, no doubt, to the Chair.

SIR HERBERT MAXWELL

Perhaps I may be allowed to say, in explanation to the right hon. Gentleman opposite, that I gave public Notice on Thursday last of the Question, in the terms in which I put it on the Table. I would now ask, whether I would be in Order, on a future occasion, in asking the right hon. Gentleman, if he adheres to the statement made in answer to a Question by the right hon. and learned Gentleman the late Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Gibson), that no men charged with murder were released during the month of May, in face of the fact that John Ryan and Michael M'Sweeney were so released?

MR. SPEAKER

The hon. Baronet puts a Question to me on a matter which has not yet arisen. I am bound to say that I can assure the hon. Baronet and the House that I have quite enough to do to answer Questions upon points of Order when they arise; and now the hon. Baronet puts to me a hypothetical Question, which I must decline to answer.

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, I was not aware that the hon. Baronet had given me Notice. I have felt rather keenly the reflection implied by the Question of the hon. Baronet, as I always try to be accurate in answering Questions, and more so, as regards this one, as it is a somewhat serious one. With regard to the Question on the Paper, if I may assume that it is confined to the case of prisoners released by the present Lord Lieutenant since he assumed Office, my answer is simply that the murder of Mr. Bourke in the Gort district, County Gal-way, is the only murder that has taken place since His Excellency released any prisoner, and that no prisoner from that district suspected of a crime of violence has been released.