§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he Is aware that the district inspector, head constable, sergeant, and acting-sergeant of the Royal Irish Constabulary stationed at Magherafelt, in the Comity of Derry, are all of them Protestants; whether a Catholic sergeant and three Catholic constables were recently removed from Magherafelt, and a Protestant sergeant and Protestant constables sent there instead; whether he can state the reason for removing the Catholic policemen from Magherafelt, and in having none but Protestant officers in that station; and whether it is the intention of the Government to adopt this practice generally, or only in counties where evictions have taken place or are likely to take place?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said, that at Magherafelt the District Inspector was a Protestant, the head constable was a Presbyterian, but the sergeant was a Roman Catholic, acting as such in the absence of one who was on temporary duty elsewhere. A Catholic sergeant was recently transferred upon his marriage in accordance with the Regulations, and he was replaced by a man of the same religious persuasion. In the removals rendered necessary by the exigencies of the Public Service, a Roman Catholic sergeant had been temporarily replaced by a Protestant; but the former would return when his present term of duty expired.