§ Mr. DEVLINI desire to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he has any statement to make with regard to the situation in Belfast; what steps he has taken to protect the workers who returned to work in Queen's Road, and whether any arrests have been made with regard to recent cowardly attacks on workmen?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)Since 2nd July there have been eighty assaults on workmen inside or in the immediate proximity of the two shipyards—twenty-five inside assaults and fifty-five outside. Of these five were of the most dangerous character, threatening the lives of the sufferers. The worst case was that of Mr. J. McIlroy, of Harland and Wolff's, on 23rd July. Two men have been arrested for this assault, and one or two others will probably be connected with it. In nineteen other cases of these assaults the assailants are believed to have been identified, and proceedings are pending; but, owing to the blackened faces of the workmen, identification is more than usually difficult. In the city generally, 157 persons in all have been prosecuted, either after arrest or by summons, for disorderly conduct. Of these, a considerable number were sentenced to terms of imprisonment; others were fined and bound over to keep the peace. Two battalions will be in Belfast to-day available for the effective picketing of Queen's Road; a third battalion is under orders, and will arrive in Belfast tonight available for duty, if required, in other parts of the city. Six resident magistrates have been ordered to Belfast to act as military magistrates. The normal police force in Belfast is inadequate to deal with such a situation as the present, and it will be, and is being, increased. The military force in Belfast is now sufficient, and—working in co-operation with and in support and defence of the police—will secure, so far as any force can, the protection of the working and other classes. Two hundred shipwrights who were working on a ship from which the police and military were stoned were paid off by Harland and Wolff last night, but they have gone back to-day by guaranteeing to prevent any further trouble. The boilermakers have also undertaken to do their best to prevent any trouble, and protection is today being given and will henceforth be given to men going to and from their work. A better feeling is reported as prevailing this morning. No effort will be spared on the part of the responsible Government to secure the protection of those who are willing to work if protected, and the arrest and punishment of those who interfere with this essential freedom.
§ Mr. DEVLINI desire to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it is a fact that the reason peace prevails now at Queen's Island is because none of the Catholic or 1857 English or Scotch Home Rulers have returned to their work, and I want to know what steps are being taken to prevent incursions of Workman and Clark's men into Harland and Wolff's. May I also ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he is aware all these attacks have been organised in Workman and Clark's yard and not at Harland and Wolff's, and that these men have been permitted, without interference by the police, to march in a body to Harland and Wolff's and attack Harland and Wolff's men.
§ Sir E. CARSONBefore the Chief Secretary answers that question, may I ask him whether he is aware that Mr. Clark, of Workman and Clark's, has denounced the statement as to his men interfering with Harland and Wolff's workmen as a scandalous falsehood?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI have not heard of that statement being made by Mr. Clark, I have heard the statement made on behalf of Harland and Wolff's that these incursions have been made. I am not myself in a position definitely to assert who the men were or from whence they came, but the matter is one which will obviously have to be investigated. With regard to the statement that no Roman Catholics or Protestants like minded with them are working at Harland and Wolff's, I hope that is not the case, but I am bound to admit the great majority, the large majority, are abstaining from work. I am very confident and hopeful, however, that the provision now being made for their adequate protection to and from their work and for looking after Queen's Road, and also if need be for incursions into the yard to protect those persons who are being assaulted there, will restore confidence, and that some of them may go back.
§ Mr. DEVLINWho is in charge of the police force in Belfast at present?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Commissioner is Mr. Commissioner Smith, but he has been reinforced and has had associated with him a very competent gentleman of the name of Clayton, who comes from Galway, but who has worked very well in Belfast and is well acquainted with it, and they together assert the authority of the police.
§ Mr. DEVLINMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether Mr. Commissioner Smith, a gentleman who, when the police force was attacked by an organised band of rowdies with nuts from Workman and 1858 Clark's, and after he was assailed and after the police were assailed, ordered the police to retire, and left the whole place in the possession of the mob, is, in his judgment, a fitting person to take charge of public order in Belfast?
§ Mr. BIRRELLMr. Commissioner Smith has long enjoyed the confidence, not only of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Castle, but also of the people in Belfast itself. I am quite aware that during the last two days considerable dissatisfaction has arisen in certain quarters as to the amount of protection which he has been able to give, but it is very unfair to blame a man without considering the force he had at his disposal; and I am not prepared to assert, and I cannot allow it to be asserted, that Mr. Commissioner Smith has forfeited the confidence of the people in Belfast. Now he is properly reinforced by police and by the military, if necessary, and now he has associated with him, as he is very willing to have associated with him, Mr. Clayton, I do not think any further objection need be taken.
Captain CRAIGMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether, after the charge made in the question by the hon. Member for Mayo yesterday, and repeated to-day, the right hon. Gentleman consulted Mr. George Clark, who was a former Member of this House, as to whether there is any truth whatever in the words used by the hon. Member yesterday, and whether he is aware that immediately Mr. Clark saw the report in the Press he authorised a flat contradiction, and stated he was doing all he possibly could in order to have the Roman Catholic workmen and all others who had left reinstated in his works?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI did not communicate with Mr. Clark, nor did I have that particular statement of Mr. Clark's called to my attention. I hope it is so.
Captain CRAIGDoes not the right hon. Gentleman think, when a gentleman, who was so recently a Member of this House as Mr. Clark, has a charge of such a grave nature made against him, it would be only courteous to ask him whether it is true or not?
§ Mr. DEVLINArising out of that question, is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a few nights ago, when I brought before the House the fact that these men were assaulted in the most brutal way, the incidents I recited were loudly cheered from the benches above the Gangway?
§ Mr. O'GRADYMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he has got any knowledge of the fact that the foremen of Workman and Clark's took round books to the benches of the men and asked them whether they were prepared to join Orange Clubs; whether he is aware that every man who did not do so was immediately marked down for ill-treatment, and whether he will find out on whose instructions the foremen were acting?
§ Mr. RONALD M'NEILLMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it is any more serious offence to require a workman to join an Orange Lodge than to join a Trade Union?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThat is a matter on which the Chief Secretary for Ireland has no special knowledge.
§ Mr. RONALD M'NEILLMay I ask whether the state of intimidation in the Port of Belfast has been any worse than in the Port of London?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe Chief Secretary for Ireland knows nothing about the Port of London.