§ MR. M'CARTAN(for Mr. CLANCY) (Dublin Co., N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether a man named Moss, employed by the Landlords' Emergency Association to act as caretaker of an 1885 evicted farm at Newton Hyland, St. Margaret's, county Dublin, engaged a Dublin carman to convey him to that place on the 28th May last; whether, when he was asked for his fare, Moss attacked the carman with a long knife, and then threatened to shoot him with a revolver; whether, on the carman reporting the occurrence at the Finglas Police Station, and the police, in consequence, interfering, Moss paid the fare and induced the carman to withdraw the charge made against him; whether the police reported the case to their superior; if so, whether any and what steps have been taken to bring Moss to justice; and, whether it is true that the police in no less than three stations—namely, Finglas, Hollywood, and the Ward, have been for weeks employed protecting this "emergency man," to the neglect of other and more important duties?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said, it appeared that Moss did employ a Dublin carman, but the carman made no complaint to the police of having been attacked with a knife or threatened with a revolver. Moss had paid the fare, which was accepted by the carman, though it appeared after some altercation, before the case was reported to the police of Moss having admitted that he had a revolver, and that he fired shots with it, and the police having discovered that he had no Excise licence he was to be prosecuted. The police had been looking after two evicted farms in the neighbourhood, and so had incidentally afforded Moss, who was caretaker, protection, but had not done so by any means exclusively.