§ MR. W. JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, if he will explain on what grounds Mr. Ralph Sampson, chief clerk in the Sligo Post Office, a Civil servant of 17 years' standing, was, on the 1st January 1896, compulsorily transferred from Sligo to Enniskillen against his wishes?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY, Preston)Mr. Sampson was transferred from Sligo to Enniskillen because he failed to comply with a caution he had received from the late Postmaster General, and acted in a way which rendered the continuance of his official position in Sligo a cause of disturbance to the town.
§ MR. JOHNSTONasked if it was the case that the Mayor of Sligo and others objected to the retention of Mr. Sampson in the Sligo Post Office because his wife had admitted, as a lodger, one of the agents of the Open-Air Mission?
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER (Belfast, W.), asked whether the offence of Mr. Sampson was not of harbouring Protestants of the United Kingdom, but that he had harboured them after his windows had been broken by the Sligo mob?
§ MR. HANBURYunderstood there were disturbances in consequence of a conflict between the majority of the people of the town and the supporters of the Open-Air Mission, and the late Postmaster General warned Mr. Sampson that if he continued to lodge these persons unpleasant consequences might follow. He did not offer them merely temporary lodging, but entered into something like a yearly contract whenever they came to the town. That was considered inconsistent with his position.
§ MR. JOHNSTONasked if the right hon. Gentleman would give all the correspondence if asked for?
§ MR. HANBURYYes, all the correspondence.