§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDE (Dublin Co., S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the 1546 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether three emergency men employed on the Brooke estate in County Wexford and one of Mr. Brooke's keepers, named Harris, attacked a man named M'Donnell, on his way home at night, a short time since; whether they were heard to say, before he came up, that "they would do for this fellow," and whether the police authorities mean to prosecute them, and when; whether they have attacked other people; and, if so, how often; whether these men are continually about the roads in a state of semi-intoxication, armed with rifles and revolvers, insulting the people they meet, and endeavouring to provoke them to breaches of the peace; and, if so, how long are they to be permitted to do; and, whether they have licences for the rifles and revolvers they carry?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. HOLMES) (Dublin University)(who replied) said: I am informed that in the discharge of their duties Mr. Brooke's under-agent and gamekeeper are constantly walking about the estate, and that they have licences for the arms they carry. They are sometimes accompanied by one emergency man employed by Mr. Brooke. The police have no information to substantiate the allegation that these men are in the habit of acting in the unlawful and unruly manner attributed to them in the Question. With regard to the alleged threatening of a man named M'Donnell, it appears that he made no report of it; but a week after the alleged occurrence the police heard of it, and they are making inquiries on the subject.