HC Deb 14 February 1884 vol 284 cc889-90
MR. SEXTON

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, If the Lords of the Treasury will, in regard to the public service in Ireland, enforce the principle and pursue the line of action laid down, in the following terms, in a Treasury Minute of the 15th of March 1836, addressed to all Departments of the Service:— It is the express direction of this Board that every party now a member of an Orange Lodge, or any political society excluding persons of a different religious faith, using secret signs and symbols, and acting by means of associated branches, should immediately withdraw from such society, and that no person in their service shall hereafter become in any way a member or connected with such a society. And if it shall hereafter become known to this Board that any public servant under their control shall, after this warning, either continue or become a member of such society, my Lords will feel it their duty, without hesitation, to dismiss him from the Service?

VISCOUNT CRICHTON

May I also ask the Prime Minister if he is aware that, subsequent to the date mentioned, the Orange Society was dissolved, and that it was afterwards reconstituted in such a way as to exclude the use of secret signs and symbols?

MR. GLADSTONE

I was going to ask the hon. Member for Sligo to put off his Question till Tuesday next. It refers to a matter of great consequence. I recollect the transaction personally; but I should wish to have accurate information before replying to the Question, and the inquiries I have set on foot are not yet concluded.

MR. SEXTON

I will repeat the Question on Tuesday.