§ MR. WILLIAM O'BRIENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the evidence of Thomas Patrick Nolan, expert in handwriting, an official of the Local Government Board, on the hearing of the prosecution against the editor, manager, and printer of the Irish People newspaper, that he agreed with Mr. Gurrin, the Treasury expert, that the forged letter, purporting to come from Mr. John MacHale, president of the West Mayo United Irish League, arranging for a murderous outrage, was in the handwriting of Sergeant Sullivan, Royal Irish Constabulary, of Mulranny; whether he is aware that Nolan further avowed that, notwithstanding his own conclusion, he was employed by Sergeant Sullivan at the Sligo and Dublin trials to discredit the evidence of Mr. Gurrin and so shield Sergeant Sullivan from justice; and will he say whether Sergeant Sullivan has been called upon for any explanation; has he been dismissed from the force; and whether any steps will be taken to prosecute him for perjury.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe Chief Crown Solicitor reports that on the occasion mentioned Mr. Nolan, in answer to 244 questions put to him on cross-examination, stated that in the Sullivan case three or four experts had not come to an opposite conclusion to his, and further that, as far as he was aware, Mr. Gurrin had not come to an opposite conclusion to his. These are the only avowals made by Mr. Nolan. There is no foundation, so far as I know, for the other statements concerning him contained in the Question. Sergeant Sullivan was tried and acquitted on the charge of writing a certain letter. He cannot, of course, be prosecuted on the same charge, nor would it be right to speculate on the possible effect which another expert witness might have produced on the minds of a jury who acquitted a man in opposition to evidence of the experts who were examined as witnesses against him.
§ MR. WILLIAM O'BRIENWill any special steps be taken to prevent this man committing further acts of perjury—I respectfully press for an answer.
§ MR. WYNDHAM.The hon. Member must know—
§ NATIONALIST cries: No, no ‡
§ MR. WYNDHAMresumed his seat.