26 JUNE 1920, Page 2

Colonel Ashley on Tuesday. moved the .adjournment of the House

as -a protest against the failure of the Government• to maintain law and order. in Ireland. In Londonderry, he said, the object of Sian Fein was to expel- the Unionist workmen from the shipyards. In. Dublin there -had been seventeen murders and no arrests. The Post Office was so much under Sinn Fein control that it was not safe to send confidential letters through the post. Indeed, Sinn Fein. had a Post Office of its own. Major O'Neill,-on-behalf of Ulster, declared that the Government might have foreseen and prevented the Londonderry riots. In reply, Mr. Henry, the Irish Attorney-General, said that London- derry had always been addicted to rioting, and that in its narrow streets it was difficult to deal with-snipers. He denied the cur- rent rumour that the police- and the troops in Ireland were forbidden to fire. They were ordered, if attacked, to act as if they were on the field of battle, -and the Government would support them. In the eourse of the debate Mr. Davies, the Labour memberfor Clitheroe, asserted that no section of the Labour Party approved of the assassination of soldiers and policemen, and that " no percentage " supported the Irish railwaymen in refusing to carry munitions and troops. We feel sure that Mr. Davies is right.