§ Sir J. D. REESasked the Chief Secretary if he is aware that Mr. Larkin publicly asserts that on the occasion of the carters' strike in 1908 the Lord Lieutenant sent for him, entered into an agreement with him that the authorities should refuse to grant the employers further military aid, placed a special motor car at his disposal during negotiations, and agreed to the release of every person arrested or sentenced in connection with the dispute, of which latter fact he, Mr. Larkin, has proof in an official communication from the Board of Trade; and whether, in order that due respect for the administration should be maintained, he will consider the desirability of such allegations receiving official public contradiction?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe first statement referred to in the question was made by James Larkin in a speech at the Mansion House on the 1st of April, and was distinctly and emphatically denied by the Lord Lieutenant on the 3rd of April in a letter which was published in the "Times." The further statements quoted by the hon. Member with others equally false and malicious were published in a scurrilous article in the "Irish Worker" of the 5th of April. I consider it both unnecessary and undesirable to take any notice whatever of such statements.