§ MR. W. JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been called to the case of Mr. Samuel M'Keown, who, early on the morning of the 12th of July, while in discharge of his duty as a reporter on the staff of the Northern Whig, was surrounded by a number of Nationalists in York Street, and when he said that he had never done anything to offend them, exclaimed that he was a Protestant, and inflicted such injuries upon him that he is still lying in a dangerous state in the 92 Royal Hospital; and whether the perpetrators of the outrage have been discovered and brought to justice?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI understand the facts are substantially as stated in the first paragraph, except that Mr. M'Keown was not detained in hospital. Whether he was attacked because he was a Protestant, or a newspaper reporter, or because, as has been alleged, he was mistaken for a police detective, I am unable to say. Two girls witnessed the assault on Mr. M'Keown, but neither he nor they are able to identify the guilty parties.