§ MR. VINCENT KENNEDYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state in his analysis of outrages in Ireland, issued on May 30th, why he excluded Dublin from Leinster and Belfast from Ulster, whilst including Galway in Connaught and Cork in Munster; whether, in his analysis of, June 1st, Dublin was excluded from his population figures, whilst Belfast was included; and whether he can state, with reference to the analysis issued on May 30th, what specific offences mentioned in the recent Parliamentary Return were classified by him as serious crimes, and what offences as not serious.
§ MR. WALTER LONGAs I stated on June 1st, † the Return does not include the Dublin Metropolitan Police district. The Questions already put to me instituted a comparison between Ulster
† See page 448.958 and the other provinces; and as the figures for Leinster did not include Dublin, so the figures for Belfast were excluded from Ulster. Otherwise the comparison between the provinces would have been misleading. Cork and Galway are small towns when compared with Dublin and Belfast. The population of Cork is only 7 per cent. of Munster, and that of Galway but 2½ per cent, of Connaught; while Dublin represents 34 per cent, of Leinster, and Belfast 22 per cent. of Ulster. The proportion of crimes to population in Cork and Galway is not much in excess of an ordinary rural district, and consequently the inclusion or exclusion of those towns would not appreciably affect the matter. In my statement of June 1st, the population of Belfast was included because the Question to which I was replying required its inclusion. The population of Dublin was omitted because the crime for Dublin was omitted from the Return. The reply to the concluding inquiry is that all the offences mentioned in the Return are regarded as serious crimes.