§ 99. Brigadier-General SURTEESasked the Home Secretary whether ho can give an approximate estimate of the number of Southern Irish Roman Catholics who are serving in the Metropolitan Police Force?
§ Mr. SHORTTI could not give such an estimate, except after a search through the records of the men in the Force, over 20,000. I may say, however, that when recruiting was reopened after the War on 1st January, 1919, it was arranged, in order to avoid undesirable competition with the Royal Irish Constabulary, that no Irish recruit should be taken into the Metropolitan Police Force.