§ MR. SLOANTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a sergeant of the Royal Irish Constabulary in Green-castle, Belfast, cut the roping of an arch and prohibited its erection; and, if so, will he say on whose authority this officer acted in this matter.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The erection of an Orange Arch on Sunday the 12th inst. was calculated, in the opinion of the local police authorities, to lead to a disturbance of the public peace and tranquillity. Roman Catholics would have had to pass under it in going to their place of worship. The erection of the arch on Sunday was, therefore, prevented, but it was put up on Monday, the date of the Orange demonstration.