§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Sir Thomas Esmonde, recently appointed High Sheriff of the County of Waterford, was the same gentleman which The Pall Mall Gazette of that evening described as being engaged on the previous day in defying and defeating the proclamation of a meeting by the Lord Lieutenant; and, if so, what steps the Government intended to take?
§ MR. T. P. O'CONNOR (Liverpool, Scotland)rose to Order. He wished to know whether the right hon. Gentleman would apply the same rule which he had laid down on a previous occasion—namely, not to answer any Question in reference to an absent person who had not the means of defending himself?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Sir MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH) (Bristol, W.)I am not aware that I laid down any such rule. What I protested against was against a Question being given Notice of by an hon. Member as arising out of 181 another without the faintest Notice to me that any such Question would be asked. I am not disposed to take for granted every item of intelligence that appears in The Pall Mall Gazette; but I may say that the action of Sir Thomas Esmonde, with reference to the appointment of a Sub-Sheriff, has already been brought under the notice of the Lord Chancellor, and, if the paragraph be true, there will be no delay in dealing with it.