HC Deb 14 April 1885 vol 296 cc1636-9
MR. PARNELL

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he has any information to lay before the House, or has he received any Report from Mr. Butler, R.M., in charge of the police at Mallow, with regard to the brutal attack of the police upon the people yesterday?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

I have not received any Report directly from Mr. Butler; but I have received a telegraphic statement of a summary kind of the occurrence which took place yesterday; but the statement does not differ materially from what can be gleaned from the newspapers.

MR. PARNELL

Will the right hon. Gentleman be good enough to give the House the benefit of the summary statement, and also be good enough to say from whom he received that statement?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

From the Police Inspector on the spot.

MR. HEALY

Mr. Carr.

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

No, Sir. If the hon. Member will put a Question to me I will answer it. My information does not come from Mr. Carr, but from one whose name at this moment I forget. The gist of it is simply this—that a short time before the train conveying the Prince and Princess of Wales was expected to arrive at Mallow certain persons, some from the town and a good many from a distance, took possession of the platform. The railway authorities directed that the platform should be cleared, and in order that this should be done the police had to eject those persons who were on the platform and who refused to leave peaceably and quietly; and it does not appear that any unnecessary force was used, or any more than was necessary to overcome the resistance that was offered.

MR. PARNELL

I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the action of the police was ordered by Mr. Butler, the Resident Magistrate in charge of the police on that occasion, or whether, on the contrary, it was ordered by Mr. Coote, a Railway Director, who had been with Earl Spencer the night previously, and had obtained from him authority to direct the action of the police upon the occasion in question; and also whether any special instructions were given to the police or to Mr. Coote by Earl Spencer; and whether it is the fact that the persons who were attacked by the police had return tickets to Cork; whether the people having return tickets, or any persons who were attacked and assaulted by the police on the occasion in question, were requested to leave before they were so attacked? [Cries of "Order!"]

MR. HEALY

Chair, chair!

MR. PARNELL

And whether the right hon. Gentleman considers that no more force than was necessary was used on the occasion in question, when, according to the accounts in the newspapers—

MR. SPEAKER

The hon. Gentleman is now putting his Question in a very argumentative form. If he will confine himself to a mere Question he will be in Order.

MR. PARNELL

Then, Sir, I will ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the account which he has received, and which he says tallies with the accounts that have appeared in the newspapers, relates that the constables, having given no notice to the people that they were required to clear away from the plat-form, used their batons freely upon the heads of the crowd; and whether the constables pursued the people, beyond the precincts of the station, over several cattle pens into the road, severe punishment being inflicted upon all indiscriminately?

MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

I have already said the Report which I have received is one of a very summary nature, and it does not contain the particulars which the hon Member has alluded to. My impression on reading the Report is that Mr. Coote, who is a Director of the Railway Company, claimed the right, which I presume he legally possesses—

MR. WARTON

Unquestionably possesses.

MR. CAMPBELL- BANNERMAN

To eject from the private property of the Company any persons who had no right to be there without the permission of the Company. But I merely assume that. I have no positive knowledge of the circumstances or of the grounds which he followed. If the hon. Member will put the Question on the Paper, I will obtain the information.

MR. PARNELL

I will put further Questions on the subject; but in reference to the statement which has just been made by the Chief Secretary, that a Director has the right to clear persons away from the premises of a Railway Company, I wish to ask the Solicitor General for Ireland whether the law does not require that trespassers should be always requested to leave before force is used; and whether, if they refuse to leave, they can be expelled with the use of only such force as may be necessary?

MR. BULWER

Might I ask the right hon. Gentleman one further Question? Whether it is true, as reported in the newspapers, that one of the Parliamentary followers of the hon. Member for the City of Cork (Mr. Parnell) got a well-merited rap over the knuckles on this occasion?

THE SOLICITOR GENEEAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. Walker)

The hon. Member for the City of Cork has asked me whether trespassers must be required to leave before force is used? It may be as he says; but how far it is applicable to this particular case it is impossible to say.

MR. T. D. SULLIVAN

I beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary, Whether it is the fact that the people who occupied the railway station at one time were not merely hunted out of the station, but over what are called the Queen's highways, and over roads and fields belonging to other people, to such a distance as would prevent the sounds of National music from reaching the ears of the Prince of Wales?

[No reply.]

MR. SPEAKER

The Clerk will now proceed to read the Orders of the Day.