§ MR. MACVEAGHI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that an Orange drumming party were allowed to assemble in Banbridge, county Down, on Thursday, with the object of preventing an Irish concert in the local town hall; that District Inspector Bell allowed the mob to demonstrate in front of the town hall and made no effort to disperse the party; and that the houses of Nationalist traders and citizens were subsequently attacked by them; and, if so, will he say whether any of the rioters will be prosecuted.
§ MR. WYNDHAMIt is a common practice in Banbridge for Orange drumming parties to march through the streets and assemble on Downshire Bridge, which is in the vicinity of the town hall. They so assembled on two occasions on the evening in question, namely, at 9.30 and 10 o'clock. The crowd accompanying the band cheered on both occasions, but there was nothing riotous in their conduct. It is quite possible that this may have been intended as a counter-demonstration to the concert in the town hall, but the concert does not appear to have been interrupted or disturbed, nor did any collision take place. One stone appears to have been thrown, breaking a window in the town hall, and next day a pane of glass was found to have been broken in the house of a Roman Catholic 1020 in Scarva Street. No complaint of any other offences have reached the police. The police cannot identify the persons who threw these stones, nor did they see anything which would have justified them in dispersing the crowd, even if a sufficient force was available, which was not the case. The force has since been augmented by three constables and a sergeant.
§ MR. JOHN REDMOND (Waterford)In reply to another Question just now the right hon. Gentleman said the police stopped a band playing because they thought it might lead to trouble. In this case the police took no such action, and it led to trouble and rioting and an attack on certain houses. Can the right hon. Gentleman say what is to be the practice of the police in this matter, North, South, and West?
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)Has it not been brought under the right hon. Gentleman's notice that at Bangor, county Down, and at Dromore, land meetings were interrupted by bands playing before the place of meeting, which made it impossible to hear the speakers, and that at Dromore a disturbance resulted?
§ MR. SEYMOUR ORMSBY - GORE (Lincolnshire, Gainsborough)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there was no intention on the part of the Orange band to disturb the meeting?
§ MR. WYNDHAMI think the supplemental Questions which have been addressed to me show how difficult it is for a person acting on his own responsibility in Ireland to decide whether he should interfere or not. There was no interference in this case because the police had no evidence of who threw the stones, but the force there has now been augmented. In the other case the sergeant remonstrated in a friendly way.
§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLI got my head broken in a friendly way.
§ MR. SLOAN (Belfast, S.)Is it not a fact that at the concert which took place on Friday, the 6th, the persons who took part in it entered the gardens of residents and threw flowers all over the place?
§ MR. WYNDHAMI have no information.
§ MR. JOHN REDMONDWill the right hon. Gentleman inquire how it is that the police interfered in the case in Roscommon where the band was walking along the road, because they said there was fear of trouble, and did not take similar action in the North of Ireland, although repeatedly such occurrences have led to rioting, as at Lisburn.
§ MR. WYNDHAMWe cannot now have a debate on the action of the police in Ireland, but in the case of Lisburn the police interfered and received injuries themselves. In the case in Roscommon the policeman interfered and his suggestion was taken in a friendly way. In the other case the police did not interfere, and even if they had wished to do so they were not in sufficient force. I have since ordered the force to be increased there.