§ MR. LONSDALEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary, in declining to produce the report of County Inspector Jennings, at the recent hearing, before Mr. Justice Kenny, at the Waterford Assizes, of the appeal in Lord Ashtown's case, was acting under instructions; and whether he will state the date of the report of County 583 Inspector Jennings and the date at which this report was received by the Inspector-General in Dublin Castle.
§ MR. MOORE () Armagh, N.I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, if District Inspector Preston made no report or other communication to the authorities in respect of the outrage at Glenahiery from his arrival on the 17th August to the. 7th September, or if the contrary is the fact; when were such reports or communications prior to the 7th September received; and whether they are still in existence.
§ CAPTAIN CRAIG () Down, E.I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in view of the fact that on the first publication of District Inspector Preston's report regarding the Glenahiery outrage, it was suggested that Lord Ashtown was responsible for, or privy to, the outrages on his own premises, and that since that date the White Paper laid upon the Table proves that the report in question was not directly drawn up by District Inspector Preston, he will state who of the various Dublin Castle officials who amended Inspector Preston's report was responsible for the suggestion that Lord Ashtown had committed the outrage himself; and whether he can state if the Inspector-General of Constabulary was himself present at all the meetings in the Castle when this report was being prepared for official publication.
§ MR. LONSDALEMay I also ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether he can now give an explanation of the course adopted by the Inspector-General of the Royal Irish Constabulary in refusing to produce in Court at Waterford, in the matter of Lord Ashtown's claim, the original report of District Inspector Preston, which the Government had instructed him to produce.
§ THE ATTORNEY - GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY,) Liverpool, ExchangeThere are four Questions on this subject, one of which is addressed to myself. As my right hon. friend the Chief Secretary is less familiar with the facts than I am, he has asked me to 584 answer all the Questions. I will first answer the Question addressed to myself.
The Inspector-General, in accordance with the usual practice, claims privilege for all police documents connected with the case. He informs me that during the subsequent proceedings in Court the advice which he had received from the Government some days previously to the effect that he was at liberty, if the occasion should require, to produce District Inspector Preston's original report, was not present to his mind.
In reply to the first Question of the hon. Member for Mid-Armagh, the Inspector-General, in claiming privilege for County Inspector Jennings' reports, was not acting under instructions, but in accordance with the usual practice. The first report of County Inspector Jennings in which he expressed dissent from the conclusions of District Inspector Preston, was a report dated 14th September and received by the Inspector-General on 16th September. Mr. Jennings was at once directed to communicate to the parties his statement indicating dissent from District Inspector Preston, and this he did by letter on the 18th September. Mr. Jennings had previously forwarded to the Inspector-General, without any expression of dissent, a report of the District Inspector dated 18th August in which the latter first stated the conclusions arrived at by him as to the window and door being open at the time of the explosion.
In reply to the Question of the hon. Member for North Armagh, there were frequent communications between District Inspector Preston and the Inspector-General between 17th August and 7th September, several of them were by telegraph in cipher, and some were by personal interviews. This is the usual practice when local police are investigating the circumstances of crime or alleged crime. But no formal and complete report of the entire circumstances of the case was sent until the 7th September. I cannot give the dates of all these communications. They are all still in existence, except the original cipher telegrams which, in accordance with official practice, were destroyed after being deciphered.
The statements in the Question of the hon. and gallant Member for East Down as 585 to the report of District Inspector Preston are absolutely inaccurate. The hon. and gallant Member either did not hear, or did not grasp the full meaning of the statements made by my right hon. friend and by me on the 11th instant. It is sufficient for me now to repeat that no report of District Inspector Preston was published by the Government until the issue of the White Paper. No report of his was altered or amended by any official of Dublin Castle. As my right hon. friend has stated, the Inspector-General was present at the interviews between the Law Officers, the Under-Secretary, and Mr. Preston, but no report was prepared at those interviews. The report, as already stated, was prepared by Mr. Preston alone.
§ MR. LONSDALEAre the instructions given to the Inspector-General with regard to the production of documents in writing?
§ MR. CHERRYThey were given by telegraph by me.
§ MR. LONSDALEWill the right hon. Gentleman lay a copy of the telegram on the Table.
§ MR. CHERRYNo, Sir, I cannot undertake to do so.
§ MR. LONSDALEDid the instructions of the right hon. Gentleman himself given to the Inspector-General to produce documents include the report of County Inspector Jennings?
§ *MR. CHERRYNo, Sir; the instruction referred only to Inspector Preston's report.
§ MR. LONSDALECan the right hon. Gentleman say why the Inspector-General declined to produce the report of County Inspector Jennings when it was called for by Lord Ashtown's counsel?
§ *MR. CHERRYI have already explained that the Inspector-General stated that he claimed privilege for County Inspector Jenning's report. In doing so he was not acting under instructions but in accordance with the usual practice.
§ CAPTAIN CRAIGIs it not a fact that in the course of examination on the 586 appeal case District Inspector Preston admitted under oath that he set his signature to a report the inference in which he admitted was incorrect, and had no foundation in fact?
§ *MR. CHERRYI was not present in Court during the case. The right hon. and learned Gentleman opposite, the Member for Dublin University, was present and is far better able to answer the Question than I am.
§ MR. LONSDALEWhen was the first report received from County Inspector Jennings?
§ *MR. CHERRYThe only report of which I am aware was received on September 16th.
§ MR. LONSDALErose to put a further Question when Mr. Speaker observed that the hon. Member had already asked several Questions, and suggested that notice should be given.