§ MR. JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention has been called to an extraordinary statement in a London paper called The Star, purporting to describe a "revolting Orange outrage," alleged to have taken place in Belfast on Friday, and published in that evening's paper; whether there is any foundation for the statement that a funeral procession was attacked by the workers in the mill of Messrs. William Ewart and Sons; whether it is a fact that the funeral referred to happened 1489 to pass the mill when the workers were crowding in from dinner; and, whether any single person connected with the mill molested the procession in the slightest degree?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)(who replied) said: I have not seen the statement in the London paper referred to; but I have seen reports of the occurrence in The Belfast Morning News and in The Freeman's Journal. These reports are, according to the reports of the local Constabulary, considerably exaggerated; but I regret to find that a body of the mill workers were guilty of the disgraceful conduct of booing at and groaning at the funeral procession.