§ Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCKasked the Chief Secretary whether His Honour Judge Wakely, K.C., in awarding £13,230 damages at Sligo Quarter Sessions for the burning of the creamery of the Ballintrillick Co-operative Society, stated that the military, with officers in command, seemed to have deliberately set fire to the premises, and that it must have been done under some military order; and what object the military have in view in ordering destruction of this Kind?
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§ Mr. HENRYI am aware that the County Court Judge made the statement quoted in the question, but I understand that it was based entirely on the evidence given by the manager of the creamery, who was the only witness examined. I have instituted a thorough and searching investigation with a view to ascertaining whether any members of the Crown forces were, in fact, responsible for the burning of this creamery, and from the reports which I have received from the Commander-in-Chief and from the police I am not prepared to accept the conclusion to which the County Court Judge appears to have come on the wholly unsubstantiated evidence of a single witness who, from his associations as known to the authorities, could not be regarded as unprejudiced.