§ MR. JOHN REDMONDI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that a number of Roman Catholic coopers in the employment of the Anglo-American Oil Company, in Belfast, have been discharged from their employment on the ground that the company was no longer able to afford them any protection from attacks by workmen of other religions; and can he state what steps he intends to take in the matter.
§ MR. WYNDHAMYes. Sir; I am informed that Roman Catholic workmen, four in number, in the employ of this firm, were discharged by the manager, who assigns as a reason for this step that he "feared some of those employed in the shipbuilding yards might enter the premises, to intimidate the Roman Catholics, smoking, and thus cause a fire." This reason seems to me very frivolous, and in substance wholly inadequate as a justification for an act which is on the face of it arbitrary and unfair and wholly uncalled for, in view of the fact that the Government gives ample protection to all who may need it, and that the owners and managers of the shipyards are co-operating with the Government by threatening to curtail the hours of labour in the yards in the event of any such excesses on the part of their employees. No other firm has adopted such a course. I shall give the matter my immediate and close attention.