§ MR. DUNBAR BARTON (Armagh, Mid)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department a question of which I have given him private Notice—namely, whether his attention has been called to a statement made in to-day's Times that after the Second Reading of the Home Rule Bill a scene 1141 of disorder occurred in Skibbereen County Court, that the windows of a Protestant clergyman and merchant who took part in the recent Unionist meeting were smashed; and whether extra police will be drafted into the town and steps be taken to protect the Protestant inhabitants of Skibbereen from such acts of violence?
§ MR. ASQUITHI only received Notice of the question a few moments ago, and there has not been time to communicate with the Irish Office. The question had bettor be deferred until Thursday.
§ MR. SEXTON (Kerry, N.)I wish to ask whether the right hon. Gentleman can now complete the official record of the rioting which he began last night, especially with regard to what has taken place in the Queen's Island works, where the whole body of Catholic workmen have been driven out from the works and deprived of their means of subsistence; whether the military and police, after the workmen had been expelled, were attacked by stones, bottles, and iron missiles; whether the right hon. Gentleman can state accurately or approximately the number of workmen driven out of employment, the number of houses looted or attacked, the number of persons injured, the number of arrests made, and the sentences imposed; what steps will be taken to enable the hundreds of driven-out workmen to resume their employment; whether the daily procession of thousands of men from the Queen's Island works through the city armed with sticks and bars of iron, and the throwing of stones, is calculated to conduce to the public peace and will be permitted to continue.
§ *MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER (Belfast, W.)I will also ask whether the right hon. Gentleman is aware that no procession takes place beyond that which necessarily results from a number of workmen following the same route to the same destination every day; whether he is aware that every effort has been and is being made by those responsible for peace and order in Belfast to minimise as far as possible these unhappy disturbances and to bring about a better state of things; is he aware that steps have been taken by the leaders of opinion of all classes in Belfast to bring before the people the necessity of tranquillity in present circumstances; and that the disturbance as 1142 far as yet is known is duo to persons entirely out of control and who are not in the employment of any large Corporation or any responsible body or individual in Belfast?
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)May I ask, with reference to the telegram of last evening that a group of idle men at the gate prevented the Catholics returning to their work, whether those idle men were ship carpenters, or whether it was a crowd collected at the gates not connected with the shipyard?
§ MR. ASQUITHIt is impossible for me to answer these detailed questions with reference to what took place at Belfast without a little more notice than I have received. I hope to be in a position to supply the information asked for by the hon. Member for North Kerry on Thursday. But for the purposes of the day the House may think it sufficient if I read a communication which I have received from my right hon. Friend at Dublin, which continues the narrative of what took place after the events mentioned in the previous telegram—
The injuries received by the men assaulted at the Queen's Island shipyard were only slight blows with fists and kicks. Lest any Catholic workmen should be in the yard and afraid to leave it, the Town Commissioners at the dinner hour, at 1 p.m., went there with six pickets of infantry and six parties of police with Resident and Military Magistrates. The pickets were posted along the road which passes the yard at intervals of about 120 yards; so that any one seeking protection could claim it openly or proceed to the city under police protection. No one claimed such protection, although it was understood that some Catholics were still on the works. The Protestant workers resented the presence of the police, and began stone-throwing. Two pickets were ordered to fix bayonets, which caused a dispersal of the mob. Stones were, however, still thrown over hoardings and roofs. At 2 p.m. yesterday the Queen's Island men resumed work, and all was quiet. Many Catholics were escorted out of the works by their Protestant fellow-workers. The rivet, boys in another yard (that of Workman and Clarke) put up a notice that, all Home Rulers should leave the works, and as the firm did not yield to this demand the boys struck work, and consequently the platers are 'out.' also. The Catholic girls referred to in yesterday's wire at the dinner hour demanded to be paid off. but were refused, and on being told to return to work declined to do so, and are now 'out.' When the Queen's Islam I men were returning from work at 5.30 p.m. yesterday, some glass was broken in Protestant and Catholic public-houses, and some glass was also broken on border-line between rival quarters. Six pickets of infantry were on duty up to 10.30 p.m. to block streets, but at 1143 that hour the city became quiet and has remained so up to this hour. 1.10 p.m., Tuesday. The inhabitants of the Shankhill Road (Protestant quarter) have called a meeting to arrange for the preservation of the peace to-night in conjunction with the police. The aspect of affairs at present may be described as distinctly favourable.