of Mr. Keane it was represented that he was in bad health and had been recommended to try his native air; while in Mr. Nally's case it was represented that his father had broken his leg. certainly felt inclined to regard this as | vided he conducted himself. In the case an exceptional case. At any rate, it would prevent the recurrence of the scandal which, in many men's eyes, was attached to the sale of livings, as this advowson could now never again come into the market. Instead of the proposed arrangement being, as the hon. Member for Bradford (Mr. Illingworth) said, a disgrace to the City of Liverpool, he thought it would be of great advantage to Liverpool, and to the parish of Walton also. He should, therefore, give his vote in favour of the second reading of the Bill. Question put. The House divided:-Ayes 160; Noes 76: Majority 84.—(Div. List, No. 67.) Main Question put, and agreed to. Bill read a second time, and committed. QUESTIONS. 1000 PROTECTION OF PERSON AND PRO. O'KEANE AND OTHERS. MR. BIGGAR asked the Chief Secre tary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been called to a paragraph in the "Connaught Telegraph of the 8th instant, stating that a warrant issued fourteen months ago, for the arrest of Mr. John O'Keane, of Claremorris, has been cancelled, Mr. O'Keane having meanwhile resided in England; if it is correct that a warrant was issued against Mr. O'Keane as stated; and, if so, upon what grounds; whether it has been cancelled; if so, why, and by what means, and through what channel, this fact was conveyed to Mr. O'Keane whether it is the fact that a warrant was issued about the same time for the arrest of Mr. P. W. Nally, of Balla; if so, upon what grounds; whether Mr. Nally also went to reside out of Ireland; whether this warrant has been recently cancelled, and upon what grounds; and, whether Mr. Nally has now returned to Ireland; if so, through what channel the fact that he might return with safefy was communicated to him? ; MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, in each of the cases referred to warrants had been issued and were still in force. In each case an intimation was conveyed to the individual that his return to Ireland would not be interfered with pro PROTECTION OF PERSON AND PRO- Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of whether he has been able to make arrangements for increasing the facilities for such visits, especially in Kilmainham, by providing sufficient warders to enable a larger number of visits to take place simultaneously, so that the prisoners may have the full benefit of the rule which permits them to receive one visit each every day? MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, he had inquired into this matter, and he found that there was no ground for complaint. With regard to the other prisons in which " suspects were detained, made to admit of a sufficient number of he found that arrangements had been visits. POST OFFICE-TRANSMISSION OF LAND LEAGUE PORTRAITS. MR. REDMOND asked the Postmaster General, Whether parcels containing copies of a picture entitled "The Irish Nation, 1882," with portraits of twentythree of the leaders of the Land League movement have been interfered with by the Government in their passage through the post, and delivered in a mutilated condition; and, if so, whether he has sanctioned such interference; whether there is any difficulty in securing the safe passage through the post of rollershaped envelopes 17 inches in length; and, whether he will inquire into the injury done to these pictures? MR. FAWCETT: In reply to the hon. Member, I have to state that, after making inquiries, I find that at the Post Office nothing is known of the matter to which he refers. I may add that packets of the shape described by the hon. Member, unless provided with a strong roller, would be very apt to be doubled up, and thus sustain injury in transit. been examined, was transmitted for payment by the next post. As to Dr. O'Brien, he attended at the Cork Winter Assizes, not as Crown witness nor as a medical witness, but as a witness for persons who were charged with obstructing a sheriff and other criminal offences, and for the purpose of proving that they had not committed the offences of which they were accused. During the progress of the Assizes he was repeatedly in com POST OFFICE-DETENTION OF LAND pany with his friends, who were on bail, LEAGUE LETTERS. and thus he had an ample opportunity of knowing the course they intended to take. They pleaded "guilty." Dr. O'Brien, therefore, was not a necessary witness to prove that they had not committed the offences, to the committal of which they pleaded guilty, and the Crown Solicitor consequently could not certify that Dr. O'Brien was a necessary MR. REDMOND asked the Postmaster General, Whether it is a fact that letters addressed to the general secretary of the Irish National Land League of Great Britain in London have been opened and detained in their passage through the post; and, whether the warrant of the Home Secretary is being used to ex-witness, and for that reason had no amine letters addressed to the officers of that association ? SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT: I can only give the same reply as I have given before, that it would not be consonant with my duty to give any information upon this subject. At the same time, in giving that answer, I must also say, as I have said before, that it implies no admission in regard to any warrant issued for these purposes. authority to allow him any expenses. With reference to the last Question, as Dr. O'Brien is still in detention, I take it for granted there is good reason for it; but that is a Question to be addressed to my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary. THE MAGISTRACY (IRELAND)—MAJOR WALLER ASHE. MR. SEXTON asked the Chief Secre LAW AND JUSTICE (IRELAND)-EX-tary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, PENSES OF CROWN WITNESSES. MR. HEALY asked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether it is the fact that a promise made to pay Ex-SubConstable Walshe's expenses has not yet been carried out; whether it is the fact that, although Dr. Michael O'Brien, now a suspect in Limerick Gaol, was obliged to attend Cork Winter Assizes for seventeen days on a Crown subpoena, Mr. Murphy, Crown Solicitor, refused to pay him anything; and, whether there is any reason for the continued detention of Dr. O'Brien? THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON): As to ex-Sub-Constable Walshe, there was a question whether he was to be paid out of the Law Charges Vote or under the Constabulary Regulations; this has been settled, and the account of his allowances was made out and received in the Constabulary Office last Tuesday from the County Inspector, and, having Whether it is true, as reported in the "Morning Post," that Dragoon Guards, and late Deputy Governor of "the name of Major Waller-Ashe, late King's Her Majesty's General Prison for Scotland at Perth, has been placed upon the list for the appointment of resident magistrate in Ireland;" and, if so, whether he made previous inquiry into the past life of Major Waller-Ashe? MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, that there was no truth in the statement as to the appointment of Major WallerAshe to be a Resident Magistrate in Ireland. What had happened was thisHe was informed that Major WallerAshe had sent in an application in the usual way, and the usual answer was made that it would be sent to the Lord Lieutenant for consideration. There had been no intention of actually appointing Major Waller-Ashe; and, therefore, no necessity of making any inquiries respecting him. PRIVATE (HYBRID) BILLS-FORTH MR. BOLTON asked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether it is intended to order that all Petitioners against the Forth Bridge Railway Bill, whose Petitions have been deposited, or may be deposited, within three days of the meeting of the Committee, may be heard by Counsel, Agents, and witness; and, if not, why this course, which is generally adopted in respect of Bills referred to a hybrid Committee, is not to be followed in the present case? MR. EVELYN ASHLEY: I intend on Monday to move for extending the period in which Petitions against the Forth Bridge Railway Bill may be lodged and the Petitioners heard, but limiting it to Petitions relating to navigation and the safety of the bridge as to construction, both of which questions the Board of Trade are anxious to have carefully inquired into, and that every opportunity may be given to people to bring their cases before the Committee. But it would be a strong measure to extend the time as the hon. Member suggests; because that would be interfering with the discretion of the Referees and the Committee as to the locus standi of Petitioners who might appear merely on grounds of competition. In 1873, when this bridge was sanctioned by Parliament, the present Bill being merely a continuation, the Referees limited the locus standi of the Caledonian Railway, excluding the ground of competition. I think my hon. Friend is in error in his view that the course he recommends is always adopted in reference to Bills referred to a Hybrid Committee. It is generally adopted in regard to Hybrid Bills; but this is not a Hybrid Bill, but a Private Bill which happens to be referred to a Hybrid Committee. PROTECTION OF PERSON AND PROPERTY (IRELAND) ACT, 1881-ANDREW AND PATRICK GALLAHER. MR. LALOR asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If it be true that, on the 16th of October last, Andrew Gallaher, and his brother, Patrick Gallaher, of Ballybrittas, in the Queen's County, were arrested on a charge of having, on the previous night, fired at and wounded a number of men in the employment of the Emergency Committee, and who, at the time, were engaged in removing a threshing machine from one farmer's place to another, along the public road; if it be true that the charge against the said Andrew and Patrick Gallaher was more than once investigated in private, by the local magistrates, in the County Gaol in Maryborough; if it be true that, on the last occasion when such investigation took place, the magistrates decided to discharge the two Messrs. Gallaher, as there was no evidence to connect them with the crime; if it be true that when the two Messrs. Gallaher had proceeded so far as the gate leading from the gaol they were arrested on a warrant under the Coercion Act, charging them with a totally different offence, namely, inciting others to an act of intimidation; and, if it be true that the said Andrew and Patrick Gallaher were then and there conveyed to Naas Gaol, where they are still detained under the Lord Lieutenant's warrant? MR. W. E. FORSTER: Yes, Sir; the facts are, I believe, as stated in the Question. PROTECTION OF PERSON AND PRO PERTY (IRELAND) ACT, 1881—AR- MR. LEAMY asked the Chief Secre tary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he will state the number of arrests which have been made under the Coercion Act of last year up to the 18th day of the present month? MR. W. E. FORSTER: The total number of arrests up to the 18th instant is 918. THE IRISH LAND COMMISSION-THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERS. MR. MOLLOY asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he is aware that the Land Sub-Commissioners held their first sitting in Tullamore on the 23rd of January last to hear applications for fixing fair rents for that district; that since then they had not visited Tullamore, nor given any notification of their intention to do so, although very harsh cases of eviction for no more than half a-year's arrear of rent have taken place on neighbouring properties, as at Geashill, and that after notice had been given to apply for a judicial rent; and, what steps he proposes to take in this matter to prevent the Act being rendered useless in this district? MR. W. E. FORSTER, in reply, said, he was informed that there would be a sitting in Tullamore upon the 26th of June, and that this fact was set forth in the Circular, a copy of which could be obtained by anyone on applying to the Secretary of the Commissioners. In every case in which a notice for the fixing of a fair rent had been lodged and decided upon, if the tenant was dissatisfied with the decision, the case would be immediately sent for trial upon his application to that extent. An application for the extension of the period for redemption could also be considered. for more than a thousand emigrants to that Colony; and, if he will consider whether the present time is opportune for carrying out such agreement? MR. COURTNEY: A similar Question was raised by my hon. Friend three years since and again last year, and my answer must be substantially the same as those which have been given him on former occasions. The Question whether this country is under any obligation by agreement to provide free passages for emigrants to Western Australia was fully considered in 1869 and decided in the negative. SIR JAMES LAWRENCE gave Notice that he should move for a Return giving the Correspondence. INDIA-ROORKEE COLLEGE. MR. PUGH asked the Secretary of State for India, Whether he can inform ISLAND OF CYPRUS-GRANT OF A the House of the number of students CONSTITUTION-THE DESPATCH. MR. BOURKE asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether the Despatch published in Cyprus, purporting to grant a Constitution to that Island, will be laid before Parliament, as well as the Correspondence relating thereto; if so, when? MR. COURTNEY: The despatch in question will be immediately laid before Parliament, and we hope soon to present further Papers containing correspondence, not only on the Constitutional question, but also relating to the reorganization of the judicial system of the Island, which is in an advanced state of preparation. MR. RYLANDS asked if the Papers would include one giving information with respect to the administration of the Island? MR. COURTNEY replied, that that Paper would be among those he had referred to. WESTERN AUSTRALIA-FREE EMIGRATION. SIR JAMES LAWRENCE asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, If his attention has been called to the desire expressed by numbers of unemployed working men for emigration to the Colonies; whether there is an agreement still existing with Western Australia, by which this Country has undertaken to provide free passages who have entered the Civil Engineering College at Roorkee for the last three years, and the number of appointments made to the Indian Public Works Department from the College during the same period? THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON, in reply, said, he was sorry he could not give the information without telegraphing to India. A certain number of appointments were reserved, and he could not state how they had been filled up. OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS-MR. R. S. MITFORD. ap CAPTAIN PRICE asked the Secretary Whether it is true that he has of State for the Home Department, pointed his private secretary, Mr. R. S. Mitford, a Commissioner of Prisons; what is Mr. Mitford's age and length of public service; and, what experience has he had in the duties which he will be called upon to perform? SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT: It is true that I have appointed my private. secretary, Mr. R. S. Mitford, a Commissioner of Prisons. I cannot say what is his age; but I am afraid it is one which I might envy. As to the length of his public service, he was 14 years in the Criminal Department of the Home Office. My first acquaintance with Mr. Mitford was when I took Office. found him there the able and tried private secretary of my Predecessor (Sir I R. Assheton Cross); and I think the greatest proof I could offer of my confidence in him was that I appointed him my chief private secretary. He had been private secretary to four successive Home Secretaries, which everyone who has been in Office knows is about the best training a man can have in official business. Mr. Mitford was thoroughly conversant with the Criminal Department of the Home Office; and the whole business of the Department, since the present system has been established by my Predecessor, has come under his notice and knowledge. I appointed Mr. Mitford because I thought he was entitled to promotion, and in doing so I made the greatest personal sacrifice. I believe the right hon. Gentleman opposite and everyone who knows the Home Office, and who may have transacted business with Mr. Mitford, will bear testimony to his great capacity, and the admirable manner in which he discharged his duties. CAPTAIN PRICE: In consequence of the answer of the right hon. and learned Gentleman, I beg to give Notice that I shall ask on Monday whether there are not in Her Majesty's Service other officers-namely, the Inspectors of Prisons-who are equally conversant with the Prison Service, and equally deserving of promotion? SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT: I think I had better say at once that I have felt, without casting any reflection on anyone, that it is not desirable that the prison organization of this country should be made exclusively a military organization. I have the greatest respect for, and confidence in, the military men at present in the Prison Service; but I consider it of very great importance that the prison organization of the country should have a civilian as well as a military element. MR. HEALY: Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman recommend the Irish Office to appoint the Resident Magistrates in Ireland on the same principles? [No answer was given.] ARMY-THE ROYAL WARRANT, 1881. CAPTAIN AYLMER asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether an officer who held the substantive rank of Major before 1st November 1871, but who had not been a Regimental Major, is excluded from the benefit of Article 978XII. of the Royal Warrant of the 25th June 1881; and, if so, whether such Article is not, in that respect, entirely different from paragraph 80 of the Memorandum laid before Parliament in June 1881 ? MR CHILDERS: No, Sir; I have looked into the point raised by the hon. and gallant Gentleman, and I cannot see any difference in this respect between the Memorandum and the Warrant. Any Colonel retiring under the Warrant who was a substantive field officer before the 1st of November, 1871, can have his case dealt with by the Purchase Commissioners under the clause which the hon. and gallant Member quotes. ARMY-PAYMENT OF PENSIONS. MR. STEWART MACLIVER asked the Secretary of State for War, If he is aware that the pensioners at Plymouth and Devonport, whose money should have been paid three weeks ago, are still unpaid, thereby causing much inconvenience and suffering; and, whether he will at once take steps to meet the complaints of the pensioners and provide in future for paying them regularly? MR. CHILDERS: In reply to my hon. Friend, I can only say that the delay which has occurred in paying the pensioners at Plymouth has led to an officer being specially sent down to inquire into its cause, and to expedite the payments. The paying officers had full authority to obtain whatever clerical assistance they might require in starting the new system, and I cannot account for the small number of payments at this station. LAW AND POLICE-THE RIOTS AT CAMBORNE. MR. LEAMY asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether it is true, as reported in the "Cornish Telegraph" of Thursday 20th instant, that, on Tuesday last, a riot occurred at Camborne, Cornwall, which began in an attempt to stone two Irishmen who were in the custody of the police; that the houses of the Irish in the town were wrecked, and the property in them destroyed and several of their occupants brutally ill-used, that, in one case, a poor old woman who had been bedridden for a couple of years was pulled |