§ MR. HARRIS (Galway, E.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If, on Wednesday the 14th of April, a man named Denis Creghan was evicted from his holding at Gerteen, near Moylough, in the county of Galway; if the reasons for evicting him are as follows, viz. that he divided his holding between his two sons; if 90 policemen attended that eviction, and if a head constable knocked, with a blow of his bâton, a man named Noon; if this man Noon had to be brought to the medical doctor by two policemen to get his wound dressed; if the Rev. Thomas Ronayne, P.P., Mount Bellew, appealed to Mr. Paul, the resident magistrate of Ballinasloe, for the head constable's name, for the purpose of a prosecution; if Mr. Paul refused giving the reverend gentleman the name of the head constable; if so, what steps will the Government take in the matter, or will the name of the head constable be given to the party whom he beat, for the purpose of recovering the loss he has sustained by the blow; and, if Sir Henry G. Bellew, Mount Bellew, obtained 57 ejectments at the last Galway Sessions?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle - on - Tyne)The 900 eviction in this case was with the object of preventing a sub-division of the farm. Sixty-four police, not 90, were present. When the agent was leaving, a large and threatening crowd blocked up the way, and the man Noon deliberately knocked a policeman into a ditch. When the police were clearing the way, Noon received a blow with a baton; but the blow could not have been struck by a head constable, as neither of the head constables present had bâtons. The man was subsequently attended to by the police. The Resident Magistrate did not know who struck the blow, and declined to hold an inquiry on the subject, nor does any inquiry seem to be necessary, as the police were acting in discharge of their duty and under orders. I am informed that the number of ejectment decrees obtained by Sir Henry Bellew against his tenants is nine—not 57.
§ MR. MITCHELL HENRY (Glasgow, Blackfriars)wished to ask a Question arising out of the foregoing, whether the sub-division of a farm by a tenant was not one of the things provided against by the Land Law of 1881, on account of its injurious effects upon an estate?
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, this was not a Question which arose fairly out of the Question on the Paper.