§ MR. LONSDALE (Armagh, Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland what was the number of crimes classified as agrarian and hon. agrarian respectively under each of the headings, firing at the person and firing into dwellings, for the period of ten months ended 31st October, 1908.
§ MR. BIRRELLDuring the ten months ended 31st October last, the numbers of crimes classified as agrarian and non-agrarian under each of the headings mentioned were as follows:—Firing at the person—agrarian eleven, non-agrarian twenty-three; firing into dwellings—agrarian sixty, non-agrarian nineteen.
§ MR. BELLOC (Salford, S.)Is it not the fact that the non-agrarian crimes are lower in proportion to population than is the case with any other population in Europe?
§ MR. KILBRIDE (Kildare, S.)And did not most of the twenty-three non-agrarian cases occur in Ulster?
§ * MR. P. MEEHANAnd in the total is there included the cases of four armed emergency men who fired on and wounded two Catholic peasants on the 2nd May last at Abbeyleix, Queen's County?
§ [No Answer was returned.]
§ MR. LONSDALEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland what was the number of outrages in Ireland recorded as agrarian and non-agrarian, respectively, in which firearms were used, during the periods of ten months ended 31st October, 1906, 1907, and 1908, respectively.
§ MR. BIRRELLDuring the ten months ended 31st October in each of the years mentioned, the numbers of indictable offences in which firearms were used in Ireland were as follows:—1906, agrarian twenty, non-agrarian thirty-four; 1907, agrarian fifty-one, non-agrarian forty-seven; 1908, agrarian 120, non-agrarian fifty-seven.