§ MR. SEXTON (Kerry, N.)With respect to two questions on the Paper standing in the name of the hon. Member for West Belfast, but which have not been put, and also with reference to innumerable questions of the same class which have recently appeared on the Paper, I wish to ask whether it is in accordance with usage for hon. Members to put down questions reciting from day to day the details of various crimes committed in Ireland, and to simply ask if any arrests have been made; and whether it would be in accordance with usage for Irish Members to take out of the morning papers the details of crimes committed every day in any part of Great Britain for the purpose of asking a similar question?
§ * MR. SPEAKERIt is not unusual to ask such questions, but it is generally understood that hon. Members who put them on the Paper should not merely pick up something they happen to see in the newspapers, but that, before putting the questions down, they should institute some inquiry, and should thus make themselves in some degree responsible for the statements they contain.
§ MR. SEXTONI beg to give notice that if the practice is continued I shall arrange with my Colleagues to put down on the Paper every day the details of crimes committed in Great Britain.