§ MR. O'KELLY (Mayo, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state the strength at which it was decided to maintain the Royal Irish Constabulary free force in the county of Galway at the triennial redistributions in 1900 and 1903, the date of the triennial revision in each of those years, the number of police actually engaged in the county twelve months after the last revision, the number of extra police now employed, how many of this number have been drafted in from the depot and how many from other counties, by what number would the Galway free force establishment be exceeded by taking into account only the police drafted from the depot omitting the number drafted in from the free force quota of other counties; and whether the vacancies caused in the free force in other counties have been made good by drafts from the depot.
§ MR. WALTER LONGThe free force fixed in May, 1900, was:—For Galway, E.R., 311 men; for Galway, W.R., 349 men. No change was made at the redistribution in May, 1903. The actual numbers serving in May, 1904, were: In Galway, E.R., 288 men; in Galway, W.R., 321 men. The numbers of extra police now employed are: 70 in the East Riding, and 50 in the West Riding. The whole of this extra force has been drafted in from other counties, and the vacancies so caused have not been made good by drafts from the depot.