§ MR. BOWEN ROWLANDS (Cardiganshire)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention had been called to the following paragraph in the Echo of Saturday last:
Mr. Stevens, the agent of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, will next week recommence tithe sales in Wales, in Carmarthenshire and 780 Cardiganshire. After communicating with the Home Office the county authorities have decided to place a police force of seventy men to protect Mr. Stevens.Whether such communication has in fact been made; and, whether any attempt had been made to come to a peaceful understanding with the tenants, and so render the presence of the police unnecessary, as had been done in other Welsh counties?
§ The SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS,) Birmingham, E.; I have received no communication from the authorities of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire on the subject to which the paragraph, refers. I have written to the chief constables of the two counties, and until I hear from them I am not in a position to say whether the facts are accurately stated, or what attempts have been made to come to a peaceful understanding.