§ 32. Mr. S. MacNEILLasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that Captain Bowen-Colthurst was, from the time of the perpetration of the murder of Messrs. Sheehy Skeffington, Maclntrye, and Dixon in Portobello Barracks on the 26th April, left in full military command till the 3rd May, when Major Sir Francis Vane, Baronet, having personally communicated to Lord Kitchener the fact of these murders, who then for the first time heard of them, Captain Bowen-Colthurst was placed under arrest in obedience to Lord Kitchener's command sent by telegraph to the Irish military headquarters; whether he is aware that Major Sir Francis Vane, Baronet, having reported these murders to his commanding officer on 27th April, who reported them to the Irish headquarters, and having on the 1st May been ordered to hand over the defence of the Portobello Barracks to Captain Bowen-Colthurst, endeavoured unsuccessfully on that day to see General Friend and Sir John Maxwell, but saw the staff officer for intelligence at the Irish headquarters, presumably Major Price, whom he requested to take a note that three men had been shot in Portobello Barracks by 772 a mad officer without authority and without his knowledge; that the staff officer for intelligence consented, if Sir Francis. Vane insisted, to take a note of it; and that, on that evening in the House of Commons, the Secretary for Scotland, then, Under-Secretary of State for War, stated that, so far as he was aware, no one had been shot in Dublin by the military without trial; will he say whether Major Price or the staff officer for intelligence immediately reported to the general officer in command Sir Francis Vane's communication; when did General Friend and when did Sir John Maxwell first hear of these murders; if the staff officer did not immediately communicate to them what Sir Francis Vane had reported, why is he still in retention of his position; will he state on what grounds Sir Francis Vane, who was commended for his conduct during the rebellion on the 27th April by Colonel Maconochie, C.B., to General Sir John Maxwell, was ordered on 26th May by General Sir John Maxwell to leave Ireland and, on the 30th June, relegated to-unemployment in view of a report of General Sir John Maxwell; and whether there will be an investigation into the circumstances of Sir Francis Vane's relegation to unemployment and the relation of his dismissal to his report of the Bowen-Colthurst murders to Lord Kitchener and the War Office authorities from whom these murders had been concealed?
§ Mr. FORSTERCaptain Bowen-Colthurst was placed in arrest on 5th May upon receipt by Sir John Maxwell of the report of the shooting of the prisoners. No telegram or letter was received from Lord Kitchener or the War Office prior to his being placed in arrest. In reply to the second part of the question, I am informed that Temporary-Captain Sir F. Vane was in the headquarters office on 1st May, in connection with another matter, and saw a staff officer, but made no report on the Skeffington case. As regards the third part of the question, I find that the House was not sitting on 1st May, which was a Monday. The fourth part of the question does no arise. The answer to the fifth part is 4th May. The sixth part does not arise, as no report was made. In reply to the seventh and eighth parts of the question, I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the answer given on 7th August to the hon. Member for Limerick, and to the answer given to the hon. Member for Northt Somerset on 14th August.