MR. PATRICK O'BRIENI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Detective Superintendent Black, of Birmingham, was specially rewarded by the Home Office for his services in a Government prosecution; and, if so, what was the case, and whether it is usual for the Home Office to reward constables under the control of Provincial Corporations; and whether Superintendent Black has yet taken any legal proceedings against the newspapers that circulated reports reflecting on his character in connection with a proposed public testimonial to him, which the promoters abandoned; and, if not, whether he proposes to cause a sworn inquiry to be held into these charges?
§ MR. MATTHEWSIn 1883–4 a Supplementary Vote was granted by Parliament to pay rewards awarded by Government to police and others through whom persons concerned in dynamite outrages were detected and brought to justice. The Vote was distributed among various police forces, including Birmingham, and Mr. Black received £100. The grant of such rewards to officers of Provincial Police Forces is exceptional. Mr. Black, in April last, commenced an action for libel against the newspaper in which 552 appeared the defamatory statements to which the hon. Member for South Tipperary (Mr. John O'Connor) called attention in this House. I am informed by Mr. Black's solicitors that an apology, at the expense of the defendants, has been published in the London, Birmingham, and Manchester papers, expressing regret for the untrue statements made against Mr. Black, and that the defendant newspaper has paid all Mr. Black's out-of-pocket expenses and the costs of the action which he had commenced.