§ MR. MAGUIRE (Clare, W.)In the absence of my hon. Friend the Member for the St. Patrick's Division of Dublin, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the report which appeared in The Irish News of 29th September of the proceedings in the Revision Court at Magherafelt the preceding day, from which it appears that one of the paid Unionist agents attending the Court and giving evidence was a person named Thomas M'Ateer, who was also one of the assistant poor rate collectors in the district and acted as such at the same Revision Sessions; that M'Ateer was employed as an assistant by John Smyth, one of the pool' rate collectors for Magherafelt Union; and that another assistant employed by Smyth was also a paid Unionist agent and acted in both capacities at the Revision Sessions for the Moneymore district; whether he is aware that Mr. Drummond, Q.C., the 218 Revising Barrister, is reported to have said, in reference to the case of M'Ateer, that he had acted as poor rate collector on nearly 50 towns lands, and as such it was his duty to get the name of every person entitled to a vote placed on the Register, while at the same time he was under a contract to get every Nationalist voter struck off', so far as he could; and whether the Local Government Board for Ireland sanction the employment as rate collectors of paid Party agents; and, if not, what action they propose to take in the case of John Smyth and his two assistants?
§ * THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. Morley,) Newcastle-upon-TyneI have seen a newspaper report of the proceedings referred to. The matter has already engaged the attention of the Local Government Board, who, on October 21, wrote to the Board of Guardians expressing the opinion that the conduct of the collector in employing a Political Agent to assist him in the distribution of requisition forms was most reprehensible, and requesting that he should be severely reprimanded and cautioned against a repetition of such conduct.