§ MR. C. DUNCAN (Barrow-in-Furness)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a disturbance in
†See(4)Debates,clxix,1239.1057 the streets of Belfast on 31st May, when a labourer named Bamber, who had been imported to take the place of the dock labourers at present on strike and who was under the influence of drink, has been charged with cutting and wounding a man named Brown; and whether he will take such steps as will prevent a repetition of such an occurrence during the present dispute.
§ MR. C. DUNCANTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the arrest of a man named Larkin, in Belfast, on 31st May, and his detention for a period of six hours before any charge was preferred against him; whether he is aware that Larkin is now charged with stone throwing, after having himself been slashed with a knife by the imported labourer, Bamber; and whether he will take steps to prevent the arrest of persons in the future unless some definite charge is preferred against them at the time of their arrest.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) On 31st May Richard Bamber, who is an imported labourer, was arrested upon the charge of stabbing John Brown and two other men; and on the same occasion James Larkin, who belongs to the National Union of Dock Labourers, was arrested for assaulting Bamber by wounding him on the head with a stone. Larkin was charged with assault at the time he was arrested, but the charge was not formally entered until some hours later in the day. Bamber's injuries were at first believed to be more serious than proved to be the case, and until he had been treated at hospital it was not known whether a more serious charge might have to be preferred against Larkin. Both of the defendants were remanded and the cases were to be heard to-day. The police are taking all possible measures to preserve the peace.