BELFAST LOUGH. *MR. BRODRICK: The hon. Member MR. MCCARTAN: I beg to ask the is probably aware that the cases of President of the Board of Trade, with officers and non-commissioned officers reference to the erection of the proposed are not analogous. When regimental new siren on Mew Island, Belfast Lough, officers receive Army promotion they do whether he can state what progress has not change their position in their regibeen made with the erection, and if he ments, while there is no system of procan say about what date it will be com- moting regimental non-commissioned pleted? officers except in their regiments, and, therefore, over the heads of their comrades. For this reason promotion within the non-commissioned ranks is, under ordinary circumstances, an inconvenient reward for military services. The question of giving appointments in warrant and commissioned ranks to certain noncommissioned officers of the Departmental Corps engaged in the expedition is under consideration. MR. RITCHIE: I am informed by the Commissioners of Irish Lights that the contractor promised to dispatch the new siren from London yesterday (Thursday). The Commissioners add that immediately on receipt the siren will be forwarded to the Mew Island and erected without delay. BELFAST BARRACKS. MR. H. O. ARNOLD-FORSTER (Belfast, W.) I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office, whether inquiries have been made with regard to the case of the alleged contravention of the Fair Wages Resolution in respect to the painting at the barracks at Belfast; and if he can state what has been the result of such inquiries; and whether, in the event of the Resolution having been departed from as alleged, he proposes to take any, and what, steps to guard against the recurrence of such an event? MR. J. DALY (Monaghan, S.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, if District Inspector Bain, Newcastle West, has resumed his duties; how long was he away in Ashanti; if he received any pay, or only his salary as a police officer; and, if so, how much; if he got any of the spoil captured in Ashanti, and the amount; and, will he also state how many days' leave of absence did District Inspector Bain get in 1894, and how many in 1895 previous to his going to Ashanti? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: Mr. Bain, who has resumed his duties, was absent from Ireland from the 14th December last until the 4th March, and during his absence he received no pay whatever except his ordinary pay as an Officer of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He states that the articles taken at Ashanti were sold by public auction, and that he has secured several of the things so disposed of. In 1894 he obtained 25 days leave of absence, and in 1895, prior to his departure in December for Ashanti, he had been granted 45 days leave of absence. MR. WILLIAM AMBROSE (Middlesex, Harrow): I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, with regard to the promotion of commissioned officers *GENERAL LAURIE: I beg to ask recently engaged in the Ashanti Expedi- the Under Secretary of State for War tion, which has been announced in the with regard to the promotion and the Gazette, whether it is intended to extend conferring of honours upon officers of the promotion given to the commissioned the staff and of the Special Service Corps, officers to the non-commissioned officers recently engaged in the Ashanti Exand men especially in Departmental pedition, as announced in the London Corps, who bore the heat and burden Gazette, whether it is proposed to confer of the expedition equally with their any corresponding promotion or honours superiors who have obtained promotion. on the reigmental officers of the West ments? Yorkshire and the West India Regi- an amicable arrangement. If no arrangement can be brought about, the hon. Member and his friends will have to find recourse to the Railway Commissioners. *MR. BRODRICK: I beg to refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the London Gazettes of the 7th and 10th instant, in which honours were gazetted to two officers of these regiments. *GENERAL LAURIE: I beg to ask whether one of the officers of the West India Regiment is not Major Bailey, and whether the two colonels were ployed extra-regimentally? em *MR. BRODRICK: I cannot answer that Question without notice. BELFAST EXCURSION TRAFFIC. MR. W. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Great Northern Railway of Ireland have a tariff of preferential rates to Belfast for excursions and other traffic, and that they give greater facilities to Belfast than to Dublin or Drogheda for live stock traffic; and, whether he will use his influence to obtain through rates to Scotland via Drogheda from Navan, Kells, and other places requiring such accommodation? MR. RITCHIE: I have communicated MR. J. DALY: I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he is aware that on Easter Monday last an excursion *MR. SPEAKER: Obviously the hon. Member must give notice of that Question. MR. J. DALY: I put down the Question and it was ruled out of order at the Table. [Laughter.] CIVIL SERVICE ABSTRACTORS. abstractors at salaries rising from £100 at It is because of the lower with the railway company on the subject pay of their early service that, after of the hon. Member's Question, and they reaching £70, their increment is raised inform me that they have no preferential to £5. The moribund class of abstractors rates to Belfast for excursion traffic; recruited from men copyists commenced also that equal facilities under like con- as a rule at £91 or upwards, and reached ditions are given for the conveyance of £100 in four years or sooner. The reason live stock traffic to Belfast, Dublin, and for giving them an increased increment Drogheda. If the hon. Member will on reaching £100 does not, therefore, refer to the letter addressed to him by exist. The maximum of both classes is the Board of Trade on the 11th instant, £150, and it is reached by both in about he will find that information as to the the same time. procedure to be adopted on an application for through rates is given him. It would be useless for me to make a general appeal to the company to give such rates. MR. W. FIELD: If I place the information in the right hon. Gentleman's hands would he give me assistance to obtain fair play? LIGHT RAILWAYS (IRELAND). MR. T. D. SULLIVAN (Donegal, W.) I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, if he can say at what time the Bill for the construction of Light Railways in Ireland is likely to be introduced; and, whether a decision has been come to by the Government as to the route to be adopted for a Light Railway in the Western Division of Donegal? MR. RITCHIE: If the hon. Member will make complaint to the Board of Trade alleging that preferential rates are given, or through rates are not given, it will be the duty of the Board of Trade MR. GERALD BALFOUR: I am to approach the railway companies with not yet in a position to fix a date for a view to endeavouring to bring about the introduction of this Bill. Before introducing it I wish to have the advantage of the advice of the new Chairman of the Board of Works in respect to certain provisions of the Bill. FAIR RENT CASES (IRELAND). MR. MCCARTAN: I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether his attention has been called to the fair rent cases on the Anthony estate heard before His Honour Judge David Fitzgerald last week; (2) whether he is aware that in the case of Patrick Morrissey, where the old rent of £130 had been reduced by the judicial rent for the first term to £103, his Honour further reduced the rent for the second judicial term to £66, and in the case of Ellen Ryan reduced the judicial rent of £6 for the first term to £3 10s. for the second term; and, (3) whether, under the circumstances, he will provide in his proposed purchase scheme that, in order to ascertain the value of the landlord's property, the rents be revised in such cases up to the date of sale? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: My attention has not been drawn to the cases referred to in the first and second paragraphs. As to the third pargraph, the Land Bill has been circulated this morning. CRIMINAL STATISTICS (LONDON). MR. E. H. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.) I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can state the number of burglaries, housebreakings, and shopbreakings committed in the Metropolitan Police District, and in England and Wales respectively, during the year 1895 ? expedition is used in the preparation of the Returns for the Metropolitan Police District, but they will not, I am afraid, be completed before the end of July. MR. MCCARTAN: I beg to ask the THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir of Ireland (1) whether his attention has MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY, Lancabeen called to the report of the case of shire, Blackpool): I am unable at Mr. John Weathered, a tenant farmer, present to give the hon. Member the inof Derryland, Portadown, heard before formation he asks for. All possible Mr. Justice Gibson at last Armagh Assizes, and published in the Northern Whig of 15th March, from which it appears that Mr. Weathered had been for 70 years tenant of a farm, one-third MR. PICKERSGILL: I beg to ask of which had been reclaimed and then the Secretary of State for the Home under cultivation, and the remainder Department whether his attention has turbary; that, in November 1894, the been given to the repeated representations tenant applied to have a fair rent fixed; of the Commissioner of Police of the that in December 1894, the landlady Metropolis, and of many chief constables, leased a portion of bog, including that the present mode of dealing with Weathered's, for the purpose of making the large class of professional and danpeat litter," that the lessee then gerous criminals is totally inadequate; brought an action against the tenant for and whether he is prepared to attempt recovery of the land before County Court to give early effect to the recommendaJudge Kisbey, who gave a decree for tion of the recent Departmental Compossession; and that on appeal before mittee on Prisons that a new form of Judge Gibson evidence was given that sentence should be placed at the disposal the tenant had spent a considerable of the Judges, by which prisoners of amount of money in reclamation, and this class should be segregated under Mr. Gerald Balfour. special conditions for long periods of detention? MR. FIELD: Will the right hon. Gentleman give instructions that the paupers deported into Ireland be sent back? SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY: I am aware of the views expressed on the present mode of dealing with the large class of professional and dangerous MR. GERALD BALFOUR: That criminals in the recent reports of the would be contrary to the law. We have Commissioner of Police. The treatment no power to do that, even if we wanted MR. FIELD: Then have the law HORSE BREEDING (IRELAND). MR. R. PENROSE FITZGERALD (Cambridge): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, on whose advice or recommendation a class of animal called the Hackney Stallion has been sent over to improve the breed of horses in Ireland? of the habitual criminal is a question of to. DEPORTATION OF PAUPERS. MR. FIELD: I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Government will bring in a Bill this Session to discontinue the deportation of paupers from Great Britain to Ireland? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: I am informed that before introducing stallions of the Hackney or any other class into Ireland the Congested Districts Board made exhaustive inquiries from very many authorities on horse-breeding as to the best breeds of animals to place in the several congested areas in Ireland. It is undesirable to give the names of these authorities, but I shall be happy to give my right hon. Friend the information privately if he should desire it. I may add that the demand, at much increased prices, for the animals bred under the Board's scheme has, so far, fully justified their choice of horses. MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The matter referred to is still the subject of CAPTAIN DONELAN: Arising out communications between the authorities of that answer, I beg to ask the right in Ireland, England and Scotland. I Gentleman whether he is aware that the may observe, however, that to afford any Grand Jury of Cork have passed a resosubstantial relief in this direction, in the lution disapproving the step taken by interests of Ireland, legislation would be the Board? required relating to England and Scotland rather than to Ireland. MR. FIELD: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in many unions in Ireland resolutions have been passed drawing attention to hardships caused to the ratepayers by this deportation of paupers from Great Britain, and cannot something be done immediately to put a stop to it? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: I am aware that ever since I have become Chief Secretary I have been paying attention to this subject. The difficulties in the way of a settlement of this question are enormous. *MR. SPEAKER: Order, Order! That does not arise out of the Question. The practice, when a Question has been asked and answered, of asking the Minister whether he is aware that certain representations have been made by certain persons upon the subject is inadmissible. A question of this kind does not really arise out of the Question on the Paper. If asked at all it ought to be included in the original Question. [Cheers.] CAPTAIN DONELAN I only wished to point out that great objection has been taken to the importation of Hackney sires into Ireland. *MR. SPEAKER: As I have said, certain sums will be included in the Loan Questions of this kind are inadmissible. Bill, the question can be further disThey are really intended, as the observa- cussed when it comes before Parliament. tion of the hon. Member shows, as replies to the Answers of Ministers. [Cheers.] MEDICAL WITNESSES. DR. R. FARQUHARSON (Aberdeenshire, W.) I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his attention has been called to the serious loss of time and money incurred by medical witnesses, who are compelled to leave their practices in order to give evidence at sessions and assizes in England and Wales, for which no adequate remuneration is given them; and, if so, whether he is prepared to provide a remedy by assimilating the fees to those paid in Scotland? SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY: The question of the remuneration of medical witnesses has received the consideration both of my predecessors and myself. It forms a part only of the question of remuneration of witnesses generally, and I should not feel justified in altering the amounts to be paid to one class of witnesses alone. I am disposed to think that the revision of the present general scale, which was fixed so long ago as 1858, will require to be undertaken sooner or later, but any such general alteration would be attended by a large increase of expenditure falling on county funds. DEFENCE OF LONDON. MR. J. H. DALZIEL (Kirkcaldy Burghs): I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, what opportunity Parliament will have of considering the policy of the fortification of London, commenced under the late Government by the erection of a fort in the neighbourhood of Guildford, and now being continued, it is understood, in the erection of two forts in the neighbourhood of Dorking, and in the suggestion of the erection of forts at Betchworth and elsewhere? PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. MR. R. J. PRICE (Norfolk, E.): I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he has any information that the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, on the 11th instant, declared portions of Essex and the adjacent counties of Suffolk, Cambridge, Hertford, Middlesex, and Kent to be infected with a maligant form of pneumonia; and, whether, considering the fact that such a condition of things will probably lead to a still greater restriction of the supply of store cattle, the Government will again consider the question not only of postponing the Diseases of Animals Bill, but of allowing the importation of Canadian store cattle under whatever regulations the Board of Agriculture may think proper? *THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD oF AGRICULTURE (Mr. WALTER LONG, Liverpool, West Derby): I have seen Reuter's telegram as to the declaration of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, but I have no other information respecting the matter. The declaration is presumably based upon the fact that two outbreaks of pleuro-pneumonia, one at Canewdon in Essex, and another at Mile End, have recently occurred, but there is no ground for the suggestion that these outbreaks will have any effect whatever upon the supply of store cattle, and I cannot consent to adopt the course proposed by the hon. Member. In answer to Dr. FARQUHARSON, *MR. LONG said, that the outbreaks in Essex had been traced to animals bought in the London market. He presumed they were home-bred animals. [Opposition cheers]. MR. FIELD: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether he is aware that an outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia has occurred at Sixteen Acre Marsh, Barking, Essex, some week since, and that another outbreak has since taken place in a White*MR. BRODRICK: The scheme for chapel dairy yard: and, whether the the defence of London was laid before Government will, with due precautions, Parliament on the introduction of the institute scientific experiments as to the Army Estimates for 1889-90, and the system of inoculation practised in the work now in progress is in continuance Colonies as a preventive of pleuroof the policy then announced. As pneumonia? |