§ MR. M'CARTAN (Down, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a report in the Irish News of the 29th ult., of the proceedings at the meeting of the Board of Guardians, held at Newtownards, on the 27th ult.; whether he is aware that William Spiers, a feeble old man of 70 years of age, reached the Newtownards Workhouse on the previous day, having been sent there from Scotland in charge of an escort on a pauper extradition order of the Scotch authorities; that Spiers informed the Board that at the age of five years he had left Donaghadee where he was born, and that he had worked ever since in Scotland, having been in one employment 30 years, and that, when ill and in hospital on the previous Tuesday evening, he was notified, without any warning, that he must go off to Ireland, and he was so ill on the passage that he thought he would not live; whether he is aware that, as a rule, Irishmen who spend their time working in England are not sent home to die in Irish workhouses in their old age; and whether he will introduce a Bill to prevent the forcible deportation from Scotland to Irish workhouses of destitute persons whose life-work has been spent in that country?
§ MR. JACKSONI have seen the newspaper report of the case which the hon. Member was good enough to send me. It differs in some details from the report received from the Clerk of the Union. It appears that the removal warrant had certified that the man had not acquired a settlement in Scotland and that his health would not suffer by removal. I am aware the existing law sometimes operates with apparent harshness; but I fear it would not be practicable at the present time to introduce legislation in the matter.