§ MR. LONSDALEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, having regard to the fact that there are 693 extra police serving in eight counties which since August, 1907, have been proclaimed as being in a state of disturbance, any improvement has manifested itself in the condition of these counties, or any of them, subsequent to the issue of the proclamation in each case, such as to justify a reduction in the strength of the extra force therein; and whether he will indicate the last previous year in which an extra force of police, numbering as many as 693 men or approximately as many, was employed to 1234 supplement the ordinary establishment of disturbed counties in Ireland, and also the last previous year in which an extra force employed in pursuance of a similar proclamation was entirely withdrawn from the county.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe condition of the disturbed counties has not been such as to admit, in any instance, of the reduction in the number of extra police. The last year in which the number of extra police was approximately as great as at present was 1892. The final withdrawal of the extra police serving under former proclamations took place in 1899.