§ MR. MACARTNEY (Antrim, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he will say upon whose authority extra constabulary were drafted into Dungannon on the 5th instant; whether there was any breach of the peace on that date; whether he is aware that the sixty men of the Royal Irish Constabulary only arrived late on the evening of the 5th instant; and will he say upon whom it is proposed to charge the expenses of these additional men, seeing that the opinion of the local authorities that additional police were not required was right; and will he state if there is any precedent for the sending of such a force on that date in previous, years.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) An extra force of sixty men was drafted into Dungannon on the 5th instant upon the recommendation of the officers locally responsible for the preservation of the peace. The local magistrates concurred in the opinion that an extra force was necessary; they only differed from the police authorities in their estimates of the number of men required. The occurrences in view of which the force was sent did not take place until the evening of the date mentioned, consequently the men did not arrive until a few hours previously. No breach of the peace occurred, I am happy to say. On two occasions this year rioting took place, when a small force was drafted into Dungannon; on two other occasions, when a large force was brought in, everything passed off peaceably. A force of ten men was sent on 5th November, 1901. A charge amounting to £6 2s. 6d. will be made against the urban district in respect of the men employed on the 5th instant.