§ MR. BLANE (Armagh, S.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if it was true that Mr. Thomas Carter, of Derryall, Portadown, county Armagh, recently repaired a cottier house and let it to a Catholic tenant named John M'Veigh; whether a band of Orangemen assembled and attacked the house on the night of 25th March, and smashed the windows and wrecked the house; if any report was made by the County Inspector of Constabulary, and if any efforts were made to bring the wreckers to justice; if recently the house of Mr. Hosey and many other Catholics in the Portadown district were wrecked, and if the police took any steps in the matter; if the Rev. Patrick M'Conville, C.C., of Derrymacash, was recently assailed with stones by a mob of Orangemen close by a police barrack; what steps were taken by the County Inspector in the matter; and if any report was made to him on the subject?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, EThe Constabulary Authorities report that Mr. Thomas Carter, of Derry-hall, Portadown, county Armagh, did recently let a house to a Catholic tenant. It is not the case that a band of Orangemen attacked the house, smashed the windows and otherwise wrecked it, nor does Mr. Carter, the landlord, who is himself a Protestant, allege that any malicious injury was done to the house. On the night of the 18th of March, on which date St. Patrick's Day was this year celebrated, an Orange drumming band played through the town of Portadown. Some stones appear to have been thrown from among the crowd accompanying the band, which broke one or two panes of glass, and, in one case, three panes in the houses of Mr. Hosey and 11 other Roman Catholics, as well as in the houses of two Protestants, but not one of the houses was wrecked. The police immediately made every effort to trace the persons who broke the windows, but the night was dark, and they have so far failed in identifying any of those concerned, No complaint has been received from the 349 Rev. Patrick M'Conville, the Catholic curate, as to his having been recently assailed, nor do the police believe that such has been the ease. Having seen the rev. gentleman riding home through the town on the night of the 18th, the police called on him the following morning to ascertain whether he had been interfered with, when he told them that some boys in the street had made a kind of shout or cheer as he passed, which caused his pony to go off at a sharp pace, and that he did not know of anything further having occurred on the occasion.