CAPTAIN CRAIGI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Mr. James McCann and his brother Mr. Michael McCann, of Newtownforbes, county Longford, are boycotted; will he state whether the police can assign a reason for this and how far have these two men to send for the necessaries of life.
§ MR. BIRRELLIt is the fact that these gentlemen are boycotted. An attempt was made to drive the cattle off their grazing lands in August last, since when a police protection post has been maintained on the lands in order to prevent further interference with the cattle. Mr. James McCann himself keeps a shop at Newtownforbes, from which the boycotted families obtain the main necessaries of life, but clothing, boots, and some other necessaries are, I am informed, obtained from Dublin.