§ MR. DILLONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a man called Trew, with a number of his followers, on Monday, the 2nd of January, broke into a house in Skipton Street, Belfast, in which the Rev. William Peoples had been holding a service, threw the furniture out on the street and smashed it, and that Mr. Trew has openly boasted of this in a paper edited by him; and, if so, what action the Government intend to take in the matter?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOUROn the 11th January last the Rev. Mr. Peoples reported that between the 1st and 3rd of that month a house in Skipton Street, used by him as a mission hall, had been broken into and his property injured. A head constable of police was at once sent to make inquiry into the matter, and was informed by Mr. Peoples that a fanlight, two small oil lamps, and a small seat had been broken. Another house in the same street, and used for similar purposes by the Methodist body, was also damaged at the same time. No suggestion was made by Mr. Peoples that the damage was done by Mr. Trew or his followers, and the police, who have made careful inquiries, have been unable to obtain a clue to the guilty persons. The police have no reason to believe that Mr. Trew, or his party, participated in the occurrence; in their opinion the damage was done by boys. It is a fact that the publication, to which reference is made in the Question, contained an allusion to the destruction of the articles mentioned, but I am not aware that Mr. Trew has boasted that he was the author or instigator of the offence.