§ MR. FLYNN (Cork Co., N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in reference to the number of agrarian offences in Ireland reported for the year 1901, is he aware that of the total number reported, 245, 173, or 70 per cent. of the entire, are classified under the headings of threatening letters and incendiary fires; whether he can state what special sources of information are possessed by the Inspector General of Constabulary to enable him to determine how many of the alleged burnings should be classified as incendiary and how many under the heading of arson; and whether he has any official information showing how many of the alleged threatening letters are proved to be genuine cases of intimidatory notice and how many are not genuine.
§ MR. ATKINSONThe reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. The second paragraph is unintelligible, as arson is a species of incendiary fire, namely the setting fire to a house, building, or goods contained in it. With respect to the third paragraph, the inspector General in preparing these Returns is guided by the circumstances of every case and by the information he can obtain from all sources. If any doubt is entertained respecting the genuineness of a threatening letter the case is excluded from the returns.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANIs there an expert in handwriting at the castle?
§ MR. ATKINSONIt is difficult to see how an expert could be usefully employed unless the writer of the letter was known.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)"Pigott."