§ MR. JORDAN (Clare, W.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been directed to the report in The Free- 957 man's Journal, of Friday, July 20, of an altercation between Colonel Turner, Dr. Counsel, the tenants' law adviser, and a Mr. Arthur Patton, B.L.; whether it is true that Colonel Turner ordered Dr. Counsel to stop speaking and go outside the lines, while Mr. Patton was permitted to say all he desired and remain within; whether his attention has been directed to a report in the same issue of an altercation between Mr. Cecil Roche, R.M., Mr. Arthur Patton, and the hon. Member for West Clare; whether Mr. Roche commanded his police to put the hon. Member outside the lines, and whether Mr. Patton was permitted to remain in companionship with Mr. Roche; whether he will state by what law or authority Colonel Turner and Mr. Roche so acted; and, whether, in similar cases in future, all parties shall be treated alike?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)Colonel Turner informs me that he had no altercation with Dr. Counsel. He was not ordered to go outside the lines, nor did he do so. I understand that the hon. Member for West Clare made a noisy interruption during the magisterial investigation by Mr. Roche. He was, in consequence, removed from the vicinity, though not outside the lines. All persons who behave alike are treated alike.