§ MR. E. M'HUGH (Armagh, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware of the language used by the Vice Chancellor on a Petition for the winding up of the Belfast Warehouse Company, as reported in the public Press, to the effect that the said Company was a bubble and fraudulent Company; if he is aware that the said Company advanced to another Company promoted by it the large sum of £132,000, notwithstanding that the paid-up capital of the latter Company was only £40, and that several other Companies promoted by said Warehouse Company are also in liquidation; and whether, in view of the enormous liabilities of the said Company and of the widespread ruin caused in Ulster by the failure, and the failure of all the other Companies connected with it, the Government is prepared to take any steps to secure that justice may not be frustrated, and that the whole case be thoroughly 911 investigated, either by the Crown intervening as prosecutors, as in the Hansard Union case, or by an investigation by the Board of Trade under the Companies (Winding-up) Acts?
MR. J. MORLEYThe facts stated in the first and second paragraphs of this question may be accurate; but the Crown has no means at present of verifying them, as it has no control over the documents used in private litigation. As to the third paragraph, the Civil Court is at present engaged in winding up the Belfast Warehouse Company and in investigating its affairs and the acts of its Directors, and under these circumstances it is obviously undesirable for me to prejudice the case by saying at this stage of the case whether the Executive will or will not take action.