§ MR. MOORE (Armagh, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that the road from Cranagill to Annaghmore station, in the county of Armagh, has from time immemorial been used by all persons on their lawful avocations; if he is aware that on the 13th July last the members of the Cranagill Orange Lodge were prevented by the police from passing along this road; if lie is aware that six Nationalists from this district were sentenced by Mr. Justice Dodd, at the recent Armagh Assizes, to two months imprisonment for attacking members of the Orange Order; and if he will state on what grounds the members of this lodge were debarred from their accustomed use of this highway.
§ MR. BIRRELLIn ordinary circumstances the road from Cranagill to Annaghmore is open to all persons. On 13th July the police prevented the Cranagill Orange drumming party from passing over Annaghmore Hill, an exclusively Nationalist locality, and induced them to proceed to Annaghmore railway station by another and safe route which is but a quarter of a mile longer. At the recent Assizes, eight persons were sent to prison for two months for attacking an Orange drumming party near Annaghmore. Party feeling runs high in the locality, and the police authorities consider it necessary for the preservation of the peace that Orange parties with drums should not pass over Annaghmore Hill. The Orange party have seldom attempted to use that road. In April, 1906, a serious not took place when they attempted to do so, and later in the same year a force of 150 police had to be called in to keep the peace when a similar attempt was made.