§ Mr. T. P. O'CONNOR(by Private Notice) asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if it is true that a party of men alleged to be in khaki forcibly entered the offices on Tuesday night of the "Leitrim Observer," held up the proprietor and his sister at the point of the revolver, and systematically wrecked the machinery and plant, pianos, and other contents, and whether an attempt was not made to set the office on fire; whether a plateglass window in the house and the shop of the brother of the owner of the paper was shattered with revolver bullets, and at other places in the town there were large chalk-mark inscriptions, accompanied by drawings of a skull and crossbones, with the inscription: "Three lives for one of ours. Take heed, Sinn Fein. Up the Black and Tans"; whether the local police have not dissociated themselves with this outrage, and whether the Government will help them in the inquiries they are making as to their origin, and will undertake to prosecute the perpetrators if discovered?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODI received this question at 12.20 today, and I have not been able, in the interval, to obtain any information as to the attack stated to have been made on the offices of the "Lei trim Observer." With regard to the alleged attacks on newspaper offices in the last few months, I must ask the hon. Member to give me reasonable notice, so as to enable me to inquire into the facts in the cases referred to.
§ Mr. DEVLINHow is it that these outrages can appear in the English newspapers two days before questions are put in this House and the right hon. Gentleman has no information to give to the House when he is invited to do so?
§ Sir H. GREENWOODThe information is no doubt in Dublin, but my time is taken up not with allegations of outrages, but in the pursuit of notorious criminals.
§ Mr. DEVLINWhy is it that when these crimes are committed in Ireland against innocent people the authorities for whom he is responsible in this House do not report these outrages to him? Are they not criminals who burn down houses and murder innocent civilians? Does the right hon. Gentleman assert that they are not criminals?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREBefore the right hon. Gentleman replies, does not the evidence show that if an attack was made on the "Leitrim Observer," which, I believe shows Nationalist leanings as opposed to Sinn Fein, it looks like the work of Sinn Feiners?