suffering in health will be adopted; but I will make every effort to see that no person in prison suffers in health. MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.): In view of the fact that prisoners are systematically starved under the ordinary Rules, will the right hon. Gentleman see that some relaxation is made? [No reply.] CRIME AND OUTRAGE (IRELAND) - the present state of the hop industry, and to the general condition of agriculture? MR. SPEAKER: I do not think that any such question as the condition of agriculture or of the hop industry could properly be raised on the Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill. There must be some connection between the matter and the appropriation of expenditure for the year. ORDERS OF THE DAY. CONSOLIDATED FUND (APPRO. DR. TANNER (Cork Co., Mid) asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it was a fact, as reported in the morning papers, that (Mr. Courtney, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, in consequence of a public-house brawl which took place last night at Ballyporeen the police intervened and subsequently fired on the people; and whether it was a fact that they fired; and, if so, for what reason this further step was taken in a village within five miles of Mitchelstown? THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.): It is a fact that the police fired; but whether, under the circumstances, it is a fact that they fired on the people I leave the House to judge. I will simply state the facts. An attack was made at Ballyporeen on a patrol of two policemen by nine men. One of the police was felled to the ground by the blow of a stone which was thrown at him by a man who was some 10 yards distant. This man and another ran at the constable, who was lying on the ground, with the apparent intention of kicking him while down. The constable fired two revolver shots at them, when they all ran away except one (Baldwin), who was arrested by the second policeman. DR. TANNER: This is a telegraphic despatch. How does it come to pass that the right hon. Gentleman is able to give such accurate information upon certain Questions, while he declines to give us any information upon others? MR. SPEAKER: Order, order! ORDER THE CONDITION OF AGRICULTURE. MR. BROOKFIELD (Sussex, Rye) asked Mr. Speaker, as a point of Order, Whether it would be competent for him, on the Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill, to call attention to Mr. Jackson.) THIRD READING. Order for Third Reading read. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Bill be now read the third time." CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE OBSERVATIONS. MR. COX (Clare, E.) said, he wished to draw the attention of the House to the proclamation of the Ballycoree meeting. The right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary for Ireland (Mr. A. J. Balfour) and the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Attorney General for Ireland (Mr. Gibson) had said, with a good deal of emphasis, that they were justified in proclaiming the meeting, because notices appeared in the streets of Ennis calling on the people to remember Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien. He (Mr. Cox) would ask the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary was he aware of the fact that last November, when the present Government was in Office, one of the greatest meetings held in Clare, and perhaps in the South of Ireland, was held in Ennis for the purpose of unveiling a monument to the Manchester Martyrs; that it was summoned by placard; that it was attended by at least 30,000 people with bands and banners; that Mr. John O'Leary, an ex-Fenian prisoner, and other extreme politicians in Ireland addressed the meeting, and the Government did not think it right or necessary, considering the condition of the county, to proclaim | of any Government official in Ireland to or suppress that meeting, although, according to the cooked statistics got up for the purposes of the right hon. Gentleman, the county was in a more disturbed condition than now? If the Government could justify the proclamation of the Ballycoree meeting by the appearance of a notice asking the people to remember Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien, why did they not suppress the meeting specially convened to do honour to those martyrs? The people of Ireland believed that the reason of the Government in not proclaiming the meeting was, by bringing police and military into Ennis, to try and provoke the people to crime. It was only by the people of Ireland resorting to crime and outrage that the present Government coulding at his hotel door-a party of Infantry continue in Office, or justify themselves before the people of England. The efforts of the Irish Members would be directed during the coming winter to trying to prevent the people from falling into the net spread for them by the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant. There was another reason for proclaiming the meeting. It was announced that his hon. Friend the Member for Wednesbury (Mr. Philip Stanhope) would speak at the meeting, and this invasion of Ireland by English Members was filling the Government with dread. The Government could not prevent Englishmen from going to Ireland and seeing with their own eyes the real condition of the people. The right hon. Gentleman had reason to fear the English invasion of Ireland more than the threatened Fenian invasion of some years ago. For every meeting in Clare that the Chief Secretary proclaimed they would hold not one meeting, but a dozen meetings if necessary. The noble Lord the Member for South Paddington (Lord Randolph Churchill), speaking last night, said the Government had every reason to be satisfied at the result of the Ennis meeting. He (Mr. Cox) wished thom joy of their satisfaction; and, speaking on behalf of the people of Clare, he could tell them that they were satisfied also, for they held three meetings instead of one. So far as the general conduct of the police was concerned he had nothing to complain of; but he did not thank the rank and file for that, and though it might not be to the advantage receive praise from an Irish Nationalist, yet he (Mr. Cox) considered he would not be doing his duty if he did not declare his firm conviction to be that the streets of Ennis would have run red with blood that Sunday only for Colonel Turner, R.M., and the County Inspector, who were the two officers in charge. Colonel Turner since he had come to Clare had exercised his duty with a firm hand; but he had shown the people also that he was not going to resort to the brutality which characterized other police officers in Ireland. But what he (Mr. Cox) wanted to do was to call the attention of the House to the conduct of a junior officer and a constable. He saw with his own eyes-while he was stand come down the street, and the people, as they invariably do, cheered them loudly. The soldiers were followed by a force of police, who were groaned at by the people on the pathway, for they had a perfect right to groan at them, considering the treatment they received at their hands. There was no one standing in the streets, and no kind of obstruction was offered to the police; but a young officer, hearing the groaning, left the ranks and stepped two yards out of his way to get on the pavement and to shove an inoffensive man off into the road. A sub-constable, taking the cue from his superior officer, immediately took hold of the man by the back of the neck and arrested him on the spot. The man was being marched off in the midst of the police when he (Mr. Cox) jumped off a car and threatened that if the man were not immediately released he would take the parties concerned before the County Inspector. Getting alarmed at this, the sub-constable let the man go and slunk back to his place. Had he (Mr. Cox) not been there, and had he not, so to speak, arrested the police officer, this man would have been marched off to prison, would have been brought before a magistrate, and, no doubt, have got two or three months' imprisonment for assaulting the police. That was the sort of police law which they bad to contend with in Ireland, and he believed that the police had secret orders from Dublin to provoke the people as much as possible. With regard to the melancholy occurrence that had taken place in Clare during the past few days, he wished to express his regret at the death of Head Constable Wholehan. He did it the more honestly and genuinely because he had known Head Constable Whelehan well; and he could tell the Government that if they had many such police officers in their employment in Ireland they would not be so hated and detested and despised as they wore to-day. He (Mr. Cox) saw the conduct of poor Whelehan all through the Bodyke evictions, and he knew him to be deservedly popular in Ennis; but, while he felt it his duty to say that much of a deserving officer, there were other features of the Moonlighting outrage which were very suspicious, and deserved explanation. When the truth of that outrage came to be known it would be discovered that the unfortunate dupes of Moonlighters were not so much to blame-though he could not deny that they had the blood of the unfortunate Head Constable on their heads-as others behind the scenes. There was a notorious character in Clare -another Head Constable-Head Constable Maurice O'Halloran-who differed very widely from the man that was dead; and it might be considered a heartless and bloodthirsty thing for him (Mr. Cox) to say that if the man had met the fate of Head Constable Whelehan he would not stand up in his place in the House to say one word of regret for his death. It was well known in Clare that this man O'Halloran was travelling night and day out of uniform giving blood money and promoting and encouraging outrage and crime throughout the length and breadth of the county, His conduct was recently brought under the notice of this House, and it was proved that he wrote a letter in his (Mr. Cox's) name sending £10 to a man for the purpose of promoting and concocting outrages in Clare. The statement in The Standard needed some explanation -namely, that the Constabulary were warned by an anonymous letter that an organized attack was to be made on Sexton's house; and he believed that if the truth was ever known it would be found that these unfortunate Moonlighters at Lisdoonvarna were but the dupes of this man and of others. Wherever O'Halloran had gone his footsteps had been dogged by crime and outrage; and so long as that man was allowed to go about Clare crime would flourish in the county. It was passing strange that wherever this man O'Halloran went there were crimes and outrages, which ceased as soon as he left for a fresh district. It was a monstrous thing that the right hon. Gentleman the Chief Secretary should get up in the House and justify that man's conduct. Until O'Halloran was punished the people of Clare would believe that the Government were parties to his nefarious practices. FISHERY BOARD (SCOTLAND) —- AP POINTMENT OF COMMISSIONERS TO MR. HUNTER (Aberdeen, N.) said, this being the last opportunity which the Scotch Members would have of saying anything to the Scotch Department before the close of the Session, and as very important appointments to vacancies in the Scotch Fishery Board were to be made in the course of the autumn, he must invite the attention of the right hon. and learned Lord Advocate (Mr. J. H. A. Macdonald) to the representations which had been made to the Government by the Scottish fishermen through their Representatives in Parliament. The fishermen throughout the whole of Scotland were agreed on one thing-namely, that the constitution of the Scotch Fishery Board was most unsatisfactory. The members of the Board were so constituted as to give an undue preference-if he might use the expression-to the fresh water fisheries. At all events, it was so constituted as to lead to the neglect of the sea fisheries; and there was not, he believed, a member of that Board who had any prac tical acquaintance with the sea and herring fisheries. Now, as these appointments were to be made this year, it was most important that whoever the Government might choose for membership of the Board should be persons practically acquainted with the sea fishings, and particularly with the herring fishing. The fishermen had made representations to the Government to the effect that some means should be adopted to ascertain their opinions with regard to the persons who ought to be appointed. This was not a case in which he thought that representation was of the first consequence, but it was a case in which efficiency was of the first consequence; and he trusted the Government would give their best attention to securing some person-he did not say whether he should be a fisherman or a curer-but, at all events, some person who was practically acquainted with sea and herring fishing. He hoped also the Government would, during the Recess, take into their consideration the advisability of amending the Act under which the Scotch Fishery Board was appointed, so that greater satisfaction might be given to the fishermen of Scotland. There was another point to which he wished the Government to give their attention during the Recess. Recently a Paper was sent round to hon. Members, giving particulars with regard to the mussel beds round the coast of Scotland. He found those beds might be divided into three categories-(1) those which belonged to the Crown; (2) those which were alleged to belong to private individuals, but for the use of which no charge was made; and (3) those which were alleged to belong to private individuals, and for which a charge was made. What he submitted was this-that where mussel beds were established by the industry of any person, it was reasonable that he should have remuneration for the industry which he had employed upon them; but where mussel beds were the gift of Nature, it was most unreasonable and unfair that any person should, under any pretext whatever, be allowed to impose a tax for the use of those beds. The total amount of money received for these beds was very small; and what he would suggest was that the Government should consider whether they might not adopt some arrangement by which compensation might be given to those proprietors who could prove that they were entitled to compensation, and by which all the mussel beds on the coast of Scotland should be taken under the control of the Crown. He made that suggestion because he anticipated that the Crown would grant the use of the beds or the produce of the beds on reasonable terms, and because, also, the Crown would be able to protect the beds from the injurious action of individuals. It was desirable that the beds should be preserved where it could be done with advantage, and he hoped the Government would give their earnest attention to the matter during the Recess. He wished, also, to call attention to an other matter that greatly affected a portion of his own constituents-it was the action of the Scotch Fishery Board in regard to trawling. Some time ago the Board prohibited trawling within certain extremely narrow limits-namely, in Aberdeen Bay. The people in the locality desired that beam-trawling should be prohibited within three miles of the shore; and, if that were done, he believed that would not seriously interfere with legitimate trawling operations. It was the unanimous opinion of the fishermen in Aberdeen that during the time trawling was prohibited in the bay the white fishing very materially improved. But now the Government, for reasons best known to themselves, had withdrawn that prohibition of trawling. He understood that the right hon. and learned Lord Advocate was to give a statement of the reasons which had influenced the Fishery Board in withdrawing this prohibition; but he did not think the Paper had as yet been published. He would invite the earnest attention of the right hon. and learned Lord Advocate to this point-that the fishermen along the whole coast of Scotland were unanimously of opinion that beam-trawling should be prohibited within the three mile limit. The Scotch Fishery Board had power under the Statute to make that prohibition, and he invited them at the earliest possible moment to carry it into practice. There was only one other point to which he wished to invite the attention of the Government; but it was a matter of great importance in the present position of the herring fishery of Scotland. It appeared that for some years past the price that had been paid for Scotch herrings exported to the Continent had been very seriously reduced. He believed that the curer had not only not been making money, but had actually been losing it, and the fishermen had also been losing money. There could be little doubt that the falling off in the demand for Scotch herrings was, at all events, partially due to the fact that a great many herrings had been caught in an immature condition, and in that condition exported to the Continent, thus diminishing the prestige of the Scotch herrings. The fishermen themselves desired that a close time should be adopted in regard to herring catching for exportation. The fishermen recognized that this could not effectually be to the Fishery Board the control of the salmon fishings, now so badly exercised by the Crown Land Commissioners. A large revenue was now collected in Kincardineshire from the sea salmon fish very indifferently collected, but would be carefully and well carried out by the fishery officers of the Fishery Board. He would also ask the Lord Advocate to bring to notice the necessity of improving the fishery harbours, for upon those improvements depended the extension of the Scotch fisheries. The ap pointment to the Fishery Board of a skilled engineer, on a salary, instead of one remunerated by fees, was a muchneeded change. All these changes would be brought forward at the beginning of next Session, and the action taken thereon inquired into. done by the Government alone; but they invited the Scotch Fishery Board in connection with the Foreign Office to take measures to procure a general Convention with foreign Powers, by which a close time should be made. The at-ings, and, as past experience showed, tention of the Board ought also to be directed to another point in connection with a subject brought before the House -namely, the Railway Traffic Bill. He observed a statement the other day by a fisherman at a meeting at Aberdeen who had been fishing from Anstruther that the cost of transit of the fish by railway for the past two years to certain markets had exceeded the amount realized by the sale of the fish when they arrived at their destination. He need not point out that in these circumstances the railway rates were entirely prohibitive, and were fatal to the development of the fishing industry. Of course, this was a question that was a large one, and he did not accuse the Railway Companies entirely of the blame; but, at the same time, he thought it was a matter to which the attention of the Scotch Fishery Board should be directed in order to obtain cheaper transit. It was also worthy of consideration, having regard to the food supply of large towns, whether the Government should not in. sist upon a special rate for fish carriage. If a low rate of carriage for fish were adopted the railways would recoup themselves by the increased quantity that would be sent over their lines. He invited the attention of the Government during the Recess to these points; and he trusted that before Parliament had again met something effectual would have been done for an industry which, at the present moment, was seriously languishing, and which required the immediate attention of the Scotch Department. THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. H. A. MACDONALD) (Edinburgh and St. Andrew's Universities): The points which my hon. and learned Friend the Member for North Aberdeen (Mr. Hunter) has brought forward are before the Scotch Office at the present moment; and the opinions which he and other Scotch Members have at various times expressed upon it will receive, and are receiving, our best attention. My hon. and learned Friend referred to five points. The first question, of the Fishery Board, I think it must be plain to anyone that it is highly desirable there should be a representation on the Board which would be satisfactory to the fishing community themselves, as giving them confidence that there was someone on the Board who thoroughly understood their wants and requirements. I may say that that matter has been fully considered; but, as I pointed out before, there may be very great difficulty, possibly, in obtaining proper representatives of the fishermen GENERAL SIL GEORGE BALFOUR among the fishermen themselves. It (Kincardine) said, he wished to endorse may not be easy to obtain fishermen of and confirm all that his hon. and learned sufficient experience who can afford to Friend the Member for North Aberdeen lose the necessary amount of time to (Mr. Hunter) had said. He urged the discharge the duties of an unpaid office. right hon. and learned Lord Advocate But we do hope that we shall be able to to bring the matters referred to before find someone who, if not altogether a the attention of the Secretary for Scot-practical fisherman, should be a person land. He desired also to say that he believed it would be highly beneficial if the mussel beds in his neighbouring county were placed under the charge of the Fishery Board. He was strongly convinced of the advantage of entrusting whom the fishermen will be satisfied will efficiently represent them on the Board. The question of mussel beds is one of great importance, and I may say that every Scotch Member will recognize that it is also a question of great diffi |