§ MR. MACFARLANEasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is a fact that in Londonderry, last Sunday, the police arrested the boys in the streets who wore selling copies of the Dublin "Evening Telegraph" of the previous evening, confiscated the papers, and summoned the boys, under a statute of William III, known as the Lord's Day Act; whether this was done because of anything illegal or objectionable in the paper itself, or merely in consequence of its sale on Sunday; and, if the latter, whether it is the intention of the Irish Executive to use the Forces of the Crown in Ireland for the prevention of the sale of newspapers on Sundays, in a manner not used in Loudon and other English towns under the corresponding English Act?
§ MR. TREVELYANI have received the following telegram from the County Inspector of Constabulary at Londonderry:—
Acting under Mayor's orders, constables on duty last Sunday warned newsvendors not to offer newspapers for sale in streets, and when they persisted some of the papers were seized. The recent practice of crying out of newspapers in the streets here on Sundays gave offence to many citizens. Cases heard to-day at Petty Sessions. Papers ordered to be forfeited.It does not appear that it was because of anything illegal or objectionable in the paper itself; but because of its sale on Sunday. That is all the information I have on the subject. The proceedings were not prompted by, or with the knowledge of, the Executive; but were taken by the magistrates. The Irish Executive has no such intention as is suggested in the last paragraph of the Question.