Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Ireland. – in the House of Commons at on 25 July 1922.
Sir John Butcher
, City of York
asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that, contrary to the terms of the Treaty, district and parish Republican courts are still operating in Southern Ireland and even in Dublin, that their proceedings are reported in the newspapers, and that they impose fines and other penalties; whether he will inquire of the Provisional Government whether this is done with their sanction; and whether he will represent to that Government the necessity of stopping such proceedings at the earliest possible opportunity?
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.