§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Sergeant Ballantine, who has been placed in charge of the constabulary at Belleek in substitution of Sergeant Dolan, busied himself when at Castlecoldwell, a few miles from Belleek, in getting up a testimonial on behalf of a Post Office official and came to Belleek in order to solicit contributions to that testimonial, thereby bringing himself 41 under obligations to the persons who subscribed and suffering rebuffs from those who declined to subscribe; whether it is usual for a constabulary officer to be promoted to the charge of a district with whose inhabitants he came in contact as an organiser of a testimonial and a collector of subscriptions to its funds; and whether he will explain why Ballantine, a Protestant, was appointed to Belleek in substitution of a Catholic sergeant, the practice being for many years that the position of sergeant at this station should be hold by a Catholic, and what are the circumstances under which Ballantine was appointed to this station.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Inspector-General informs me that about three years ago Acting Sergeant-Ballantine and other members of the constabulary gave subscriptions to a testimonial which was presented to a Post Office official at Belleek, and to which persons of all religious creeds in the locality subscribed. The acting sergeant, however, took no part in organising or receiving subscriptions, and did not go to Belleek to solicit subscriptions, and is therefore under no obligation to any of the subscribers to the testimonial. Acting Sergeant Ballantine, who is a Protestant, was recently appointed by the County Inspector, with the approval of the Inspector-General, to the charge of Belleek station, of which the former sergeant in charge was a Catholic. The Inspector-General informs me that there is no reason why a Protestant sergeant should not be appointed to the station. There is no sectarian feeling in the locality.