asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he has yet made inquiries in accordance with his undertaking to the hon. Member for South Donegal as to whether prior to the date of the dispatch of the first batch of recruits from Belfast to Fermoy a great number of Nationalists and Catholics enlisted at the Unionist agencies in Ulster, and were now to the number of 1,000 in various camps throughout that province; whether these recruits had intimated their desire to join certain Irish regiments, and were assured that they could change into them later; whether, despite this assurance, on the faith of which they enlisted, they are still detained in the camps of the Ulster Division; and, if so, what has been the result of the inquiries?

I find on inquiry that the number of Catholics now present in the Ulster Division is one officer and thirteen other ranks. It is obviously not possible to state accurately the number of Nationalists in this division, but it is believed to be very small. There is a standing order at each depot that every recruit who on enlistment expresses a decided preference for any particular battalion should be posted to that battalion, and, as far as can be ascertained, no Catholic recruit is retained in the Ulster Division against his wish.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he can state the number of Orders made in Ireland up to the present under Section 1 of the Intoxicating Liquor (Temporary Restriction) Act, 1914, giving in each case the closing hour fixed?

The number of Orders made in Ireland since the outbreak of War under Section 1 of the Intoxicating Liquor (Temporary Restriction) Act, 1914, is twenty-five, made up as shown in the following table, in which no account is taken of Orders made and subsequently found to be invalid under the terms of the Statute; or of those which merely renewed expiring Orders:—

asked the Chief Secretary whether the O'Flaherty estates in Ardnasella, Oughterard, and in Ballyconnaly, near Clifden, have yet been purchased by the Congested Districts Board (Ireland); if not, will he state whether the negotiations that began for the purchase of those estates some four or five years ago are still proceeding; and, if so, when are they likely to be brought to a successful conclusion?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, and the remainder accordingly does not arise.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that in the case of the National Penny Bank the Court expressed itself in favour of an independent liquidation; if the liquidator nominated by the bank has been re-introduced as manager; and if the solicitors of the bank are acting in the liquidation with the consent of the Board of Trade?

The National Penny Bank, Limited, is now being wound up under an Order of the Court. The Court has appointed the liquidator nominated by the bank in the voluntary winding-up to act as special manager in the compulsory winding-up, and he acts under the directions of and has to account to the Official Receiver. The solicitors who acted for the bank are being employed in the liquidation with the consent of the Board of Trade on a small amount of conveyancing work in connection with the realisation of the assets of the bank.

asked if the secretary to Mr. Bartley, late managing director of the National Penny Bank, is conducting the proceedings relating to deposits; and whether he is aware that the receiver of the moneys has been removed from the position of liquidator?

If my hon. Friend refers to the assistant manager of the National Penny Bank, his services were retained for the purposes of the liquidation up to 24th December last, but he is not now employed in the liquidation. Part of the assets available for the creditors of the bank were held by trustees, and those assets were being dealt with by a receiver acting under the control of the Court in proceedings which were independent of the liquidation. With the consent of the receiver in those proceedings an Order has now been made by the Court for his discharge, with the result that all the assets are now brought under the control of the Official Receiver.