§ MR. DELANYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that in a recent interview with the chief clerk of the Department of Agriculture an attempt was made to induce one of the Catholic clerks of the Veterinary Branch to dissociate himself from the statements made in a joint memorandum addressed to the secretary in May last, setting forth grievances under which he and certain other Catholic gentlemen laboured; whether, with that avowed intention and with the stated object of removing this clerk from his colleagues and co-signatories, he was forthwith transferred to the Fisheries Branch of the Department; and whether he will state what steps he proposes taking to secure that these clerks shall not in future be interfered with in bringing under the Department's notice the disabilities from which they suffer.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. WYNDHAM)On January 7th the chief clerk verbally communicated to the member of the staff referred to the order of the Department, already determined upon, transferring him to the Fisheries Branch. In the course of conversation with this officer the chief clerk suggested to him the unwisdom of continuing to participate in a line of action that had been censured by the Department. This advice was tendered in the most friendly manner and was in no way dependent on the order of 28 the Department transferring the clerk to another branch of the office. The Department is at all times ready to give sympathetic consideration to the legitimate claims of members of its staff, and there is no foundation for the suggestion that it has acted to the detriment of its officers.