HC Deb 11 February 1884 vol 284 c423
MR. SEXTON

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Whether Mr. Eyre W. Preston, who holds the salaried office of Investigator of Tithe Rent-charge under the Irish Land Commission, is the same person as Mr. Eyre W. Preston whose name appears in the published list of the names of the Committee Appointed by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, to express in a tangible form their sympathy with Lord Rossmore, and their disapproval of the conduct of the Executive; whether Mr. Eyre W. Preston and the other members of the Committee have published an "Appeal" for funds, in which they declare that the Government, by superseding Lord Rossmore, had "insulted the Orange body," and deserved "the most severe rebuke;" and, whether, if the member of the Rossmore Committee responsible for this language be the same person as the official of the Irish Land Commission, he will be continued any longer in the service of that Department?

MR. TREVELYAN

Sir, this Question was referred to the Land Commissioners, and I have received the following communication from them:— The Land Commissioners were not aware till now that Mr. Preston was a member of the committee referred to in the Question. They strongly disapprove of his conduct in having become a member of that committee, and they have called on him to resign his situation in the Land Commission. Mr. Preston has accordingly placed his resignation in their hands.