§ Mr. WILLIAM O'BRIENasked the Prime Minister if his attention has been called to the decision of the House of Lords on Friday, 14th July, whereby the fishery of Lough Neagh, which supports 900 families, has been declared to belong exclusively to Lord Shaftesbury and his lessees under a patent of Charles II.; will he ascertain whether at the trial it was conceded that the public had always fished in Lough Neagh with nets and lines without hindrance since before the English Conquest, and that a previous attempt to restrain free fishing on the lake had failed by the judgment of the House of Lords in 1876; whether he would circulate as a State paper its recent judgment, with the evidence and arguments on both sides; whether the Law Lords were divided four to three, and on what lines did this division proceed; will he instruct the Law Officers to inquire into the validity of the patent of Charles II. as against the Crown, and into the reality of the consideration alleged to Charles II. for making the grant, or introduce legislation analogous to that necessitated by previous decisions of the Lords in the Scottish Free Church and the Taff Vale cases, with a view to enabling the fishermen of Lough Neagh to earn their livelihood as heretofore?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Asquith)My attention has been called to the decision in question, but I have not yet had an opportunity of going into the matter.