§ Mr. SPEAKER informed the House that ho had received the following letters relating to the imprisonment of Members:
§ Headquarters,
§ Southern District, Cork,
§ 15th September, 1919.
§ Sir,
§ I have the honour to report that, on the 12th day of September, 1919, Mr. Ernest Blyth, M.P. for North Monaghan, was arrested under a direction issued by me, and committed to Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, there to await his trial by court-martial for an offence against the Defence of the Realm Regulations.
§ I have the honour to be, Sir,
§ Your obedient servant,
§ W. L. WILLIAMS,
§ Major-General.
§ Competent Military Authority.
§ The Right Honourable The Speaker,
§ House of Commons,
§ London, S.W. 1.
§ General Headquarters, Ireland,
§ Parkgate, Dublin.
§ 9th October, 1919.
§ Sir,
§ I have the honour to report that Mr. Patrick O'Keefe, M.P. for North Cork, who was arrested on 12th September, 1919, under a direction issued by the General Officer Commanding Southern District, Ireland, has been tried by district court-martial in Dublin, and sentenced to imprisonment without hard labour for one year and six months for the following offences under the Defence of the Realm Regulations:
- (1) Under Regulation 42, for making statements calculated to cause sedition among the civilian population.
- (2) Under Regulation 27, for making statements likely to prejudice the discipline of the Royal Irish Constabulary.
§ The sentence has been duly confirmed, and the accused committed to prison.
§ I have the honour to be, Sir,
§ Your obedient servant,
§ F. SHAW,
§ Lieut.-General Commanding-in-Chief, Ireland.
§ The Right Honourable The Speaker,
§ House of Commons,
§ London, S.W. 1.
§ Sligo County Petty Sessions Office,
§ Courthouse, Sligo,
§ 18th October, 1919.
§ Sir,
§ I am directed by the Justices to report that Mr. Alexander McCabe, of Ballymote, county 39 Sligo, Member of Parliament for the South Division of the county of Sligo, was charged before Captain Frederick FitzPatrick, R.M., and Mr. R. W. Glass, R.M., at a Court constituted under the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, at Sligo County Petty Sessions on yesterday, the 17th instant for—
§ (1) That on the 28th day of September, 1919, at Carrowhubbock South and its vicinity, in the county of Sligo, the said Alexander McCabe with divers other persons to the number of three hundred and more did unlawfully, riotously, and routously assemble and gather together to the disturbance of the public peace.
§ Mr. McCabe was also charged for—
§ (2) That on the 28th day of September, 1919, at Carrowhubbock South, in the county of Sligo, being a district in which an association known by the name of the Dail Eireann has been prohibited under and by virtue of the Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act, 1887, the said Alexander McCabe did unlawfully solicit contributions for the purpose of the said association, contrary to the Statute and Orders thereunder in such case made and provided.
§ Mr. McCabe was convicted of the said two offences and was ordered, in case No. 1. to be imprisoned in His Majesty's prison at Sligo for the space of three months at hard labour; and he was further ordered, at the expiration of the said term of imprisonment, to enter into recognisances himself in the sum of fifty pounds, with two sureties in the sum of twenty-five pounds, conditioned that he be of good behaviour towards all His Majesty s subjects for a period of twelve months, and in default of so doing to be imprisoned for a further period of three months.
§ In case No. 2 Mr. McCabe was ordered to be imprisoned for a period of three months of hard labour, but the imprisonment in this case was ordered to run concurrently with the sentence in case No. 1.
§ I have the honour to be, Sir,
§ Your obedient servant,
§ A. BURKE,
§ Clerk of Sligo County Petty Sessions.
§ The Right Honourable J. W. Lowther, P.C.,
§ Speaker of the House of Commons,
§ House of Commons,
§ London.