§ MR. SEXTON (for Mr. DWYER GRAY)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether there is any truth in the statement published in The Dublin Daily Express and subsequently in The Times last month and reported in The St. James's Gazette of the 19th instant, on the authority of a letter "from a responsible person in Ireland to a distinguished person in England," to the effect that raffles are being held by Catholics in various districts in Ireland for the reversionary possession of farms held by Protestants?
§ MR. ALBERT GREYIn reference to this Question, I would, at the same time, ask my right hon. Friend whether he has seen similar statements explicitly made in the columns of The Belfast 1519 News Letter, and reported in The Times of to-day.
THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY)Mr. Speaker, in answer to the Question on the Paper, I have to say that the authorities in Dublin have no official knowledge of these alleged transactions; and the police authorities in the North of Ireland, to which most of the statements are confined, have not heard of them. In answer to the Question now asked by my hon. Friend (Mr. A. Grey), my attention has been called to the specific statement to which he refers, and in consequence of that I shall have further inquiries made.
§ MR. SEXTONI beg to give Notice that, on a future day, I will ask if the Government will consider whether the wilful and persistent publications by newspapers of false news, calculated to endanger the public peace, should not be constituted an offence?