§ Mr. NEWMANasked the Chief Secretary whether he has received any information with regard to boycotting and intimidation of the Misses Davenport, of Ross Hill, Galway; whether these ladies, who are both over seventy years, have had their cattle driven from their land and a 30-acre holding taken violent possession of by residents in the locality, and attempts made to terrorise them by lighting bonfires and similar methods; and whether he can assign any reason for the treatment to which these ladies are being subjected?
§ Mr. BIRRELLI am aware from information received from the police and from private sources that the Misses Davenport have been boycotted. The police believe that the boycotting is now at an end, and I have given them special instructions to see that these aged ladies are not further molested. The holding mentioned in the question, which was the cause of the trouble, was not forcibly taken possession of, nor were the cattle driven from it, so far as the police are aware. The Misses Davenport surrendered it to their landlords, the Governors of the Erasmus Smith's Schools, who relet it to the neighbouring tenants. The police, who were present at the bonfire to which the hon. and gallant Member refers, report that it was lit by children according to the usual custom on St. John's Eve, and was not intended to cause annoyance. No complaints were made to the police with regard to it.