§ MR. T. D. SULLIVANasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it is true that the Chief Commissioner of Police in Dublin issued a notice on Monday last to the effect that any of the citizens' bands playing in the streets of that city on the nights of Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday would be dispersed by force; whether he caused copies of that notice to be served by the police on the masters of several of those bands; and, whether the Chief Commissioner of Police has power to fix the occasions on which popular bands will be allowed to perform in Dublin, or to prescribe the tunes which they are to play?
§ MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANIt having been publicly stated that the amateur bands of the city had been invited to parade the streets on the evenings referred to, and that the object of the parade was to express dissent from those who had decorated their houses or otherwise manifested their loyalty towards His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the police, knowing that such a procession of bands in such circumstances was likely to result in outrages on property and disturbance of the public peace, communicated verbally with the leaders of the bands, and warned them that the parade would not be allowed. In taking this course the police not only acted within their powers, but they would have failed in their duty if they had not done so.