§ MR. J. DEVLINI beg to ask Mr. Attoney-General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to the public protest from a number of voters who were debarred from exercising the franchise at the recent election in North Belfast; whether he is aware that, at the preparation of the register on which the election took place, men who were fully qualified to vote, and who had voted at the two previous elections, were removed from the voters' list without notice; that in some instances the names of voters qualified in North Belfast were removed from the list of that division and placed on the lists of other divisions of the city where they had no qualification whatever; that the voters so disfranchised in North Belfast were well known to be supporters of the democratic cause; whether he is aware that the preparation of the registers is in the hands of local officials who make no secret of their antagonism to everything progressive; and whether he will cause an inquiry to be made into the whole matter, with a view to inquiring into this tampering with the register, and to prevent the repetition of such an occurrence.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY,) Liverpool, ExchangeI have made inquiries as to the irregularities referred to in the Question. The Deputy Clerk of the Crown and Peace informs me that he is only aware of two specific cases at the recent election for North Belfast where persons claiming to be Parliamentary voters for the division were found not to be on the register. In both cases the names of these gentlemen appeared on the register for other divisions of Belfast, in one case for West Belfast, and in the other for South Belfast, and their names were placed on the Local Government supplement only for North Belfast. In one case, at all events, this course appears to have been wrongly taken, as the voter states that he has no qualification at all for South Belfast, but I do not think that one error in a large register is sufficient evidence 892 of partiality to base a charge against the officials who prepare the register. Should any evidence be placed before me of anything like a systematic attempt by any official to exclude persons of one particular Party from the register, I shall cause full inquiries to be made into the matter so as to prevent any such illegal and improper action.