HC Deb 01 August 1905 vol 150 cc1173-5
MR. CHARLES CRAIG

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that, on the night of July 11th, the house of Mr. Edward Magenis, a large grazier on the King-Harman Estate, near Boyle, in county Roscommon, was attacked by a number of men, who fired shots into the windows at intervals for three hours; and if he can state whether Mr. Magenis had refused to give up his farm at the dictation of the United League; and whether, in view of the fact that a few months ago in the same locality the statue of King William III. was pulled down and the perpetrators are still at large, he will take special steps to protect the lives and property of the inhabitants, and to bring the guilty parties to justice.

MR. WALTER LONG

I have now received a full report of the special police investigation into this matter conducted by Mr. O'Connell, a county inspector attached to the headquarters staff in Dublin, and by Mr. Pearson, the county inspector of Roscommon; and the conclusion arrived at by them is that no attack was made upon Mr. Magenis' house. That gentleman asserts that no one has asked him to give up his farm. The injury to the statue referred to in the last inquiry was committed at Boyle, five miles from Mr. Magenis' house. In that case the police have used, and are still using, every effort to bring the offenders to justice.

MR. HAYDEN (Roscommon, S.)

asked whether the police had discovered how the windows of the house were broken—from inside or outside?

MR. WALTER LONG

said that it would be a difficult question to decide. But he had satisfied himself that there was no foundation whatever for the suggestion that an attack had been made upon the house.

MR. CHARLES CRAIG

asked whether the police had ascertained who it was that gave the report to the Press.

MR. WALTER LONG

said the police had not discovered the person; he wished they had. The report appeared in papers representing different political Parties. No one regretted more than he did that reports of this kind should be inserted by the Press, when it was quite easy to ascertain beforehand whether they were true or false.

MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)

Will the right hon. Gentleman endeavour to get the name of the ruffian who pat the libel into the Press at a penny a line?

Cannot the police find out who is the Press Association's representative in Boyle? Everyone there knows very well the paper and the man.

MR. WALTER LONG

The fact of matters being common knowledge does not justify their repetition by a Minister, or his making a charge against an individual based on them. I do not know who the person is. If there is any power in the law I can exercise to prevent a recurrence of this kind of thing I will not hesitate to use it.

MR. HAYDEN

asked whether the hon Member for the Altrincham Division had any apology or personal explanation to make for having first given this foul slander Parliamentary circulation,

MR. DISRAELI (Cheshire, Altrincham)

said he had only asked the Question to obtain information; and he fully accepted the police report, which was not always the practice of hon. Gentlemen opposite.

MR. HAYDEN

Can you explain why it took the police three weeks to find out this report was false?

MR. SPEAKER

That hardly arises out of the Question.