§ MR. SEXTON (Belfast, W.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that an old labourer named John Johnstone, who on the 13th of August last year, according to Commander M'Hardy's Report on the Belfast Riots, was suddenly attacked by a number of his fellow workmen (in the shipbuilding yard of Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast), beaten, covered with tar, and compelled to leave the employment, after a service of 34 years, was, during and after his illness resulting from the injuries he had sustained, refused any allowance from the sick and accident fund of the establishment, to which, whilst an employé, he had been compelled to subscribe; whether the managers of the fund refused to furnish a copy of their Rules to Mr. M'Erlean, solicitor, who applied for them on behalf of Johnstone; and, whether the fund is subject to public authority?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)I have no official information as to the fund referred to, which, so far as I can judge from the terms of the Question, appears to be one under private management.
§ MR. SEXTONMight I ask, Sir, whether a sick or accident fund of this kind is not under the control of a public officer, like Friendly Societies?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI should imagine not; but I have not yet received any information.