SUPPLY.—REPORT. (Hansard, 20 July 1885)

§ MR. SEXTON
said, there seemed to be some misunderstanding on the part of the Government with regard to this Vote. They had promised to make an explanation with regard to the pension of Mr. Anderson, Crown Solicitor, which 1333 appeared on this Estimate. Irish Members were somewhat puzzled with that, because if the gentleman in question was fit for the Public Service he ought to be kept on at full pay, and if he were not he (Mr. Sexton) could not see why he should have a pension. Then he had a question to ask with regard to a pension, on page 472, of £125 given to P. J. O'Connor, clerk in the Public Works Office. He thought that that gentleman had been treated in a most harsh and inconsiderate manner; he had been transferred from the Education Department to the Board of Works, by way of signal promotion, at a salary of £300 a-year; but scarcely had he been transferred than his office was abolished, and he was cast on the world at the age of 42—an ago when a man did not find it easy to get employment. Mr. O'Connor had asked for a commutation of his pension, but that had been refused. Had he been an incompetent man,hewould not have been allowed to remain in the Service; but his ability had been his ruin, and he had been transferred to the Board of Works, only to be turned out on this beggarly pension of £125 a-year. He said there was no more able man in the Service of the country, and that it was a shame and a scandal that at the ago of 42 his future was gone, and he was without any adequate provision for old age.

§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. HOLMES)
said, that he understood the explanation of the point raised by the hon. Member for Sligo to be that Mr. Anderson received the allowance in question in consideration of the abolition of his office, under which, in addition to his salary, he received certain fees. Mr. Anderson was not by the terms of his engagement obliged to devote the whole of his time to the Public Service, and it had been considered desirable that an alteration should take place, and a gentleman had been appointed at a salary of £1,000 a-year who devoted the whole of his time to the duties of the office. Mr. Anderson's office having been abolished, his case was taken into consideration by the Treasury, and it had been decided that it should be dealt with under the Superannuation Act.

§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir HENRY HOLLAND)
said, that 1334 the case of Mr. O'Connor should have reconsideration.

§ MR. HEALY
said, he was very glad to hear that the Secretary to the Treasury would look into the case referred to by the hon. Member for Sligo. He was, of course, ready to admit that the necessity of making tranfers from one Department to another sometimes arose; but, at the same time, he thought that there was a great deal of needless waste caused at the Castle when those transfers took place. Irish Members on those Benches also wanted to know why it was that Mr. George Bolton was in one particular place and receiving pay for another? He said that when those curious transfers took place which no one could understand, there should be some Papers presented to Parliament. He thought that the Estimates should be accompanied with something like a printed explanation, and he trusted the hon. Baronet would see his way to having that done in future. It was hard that the present Government should be attacked for those shortcomings, and he did not intend to do it; but it was certainly in the interests of public purity that those things should be made perfectly clear he regretted that the Predecessors of Her Majesty's Government were not, for this occasion only, on the Treasury Bench; but he thought that, with regard to the future, he and his hon. Friend would be bound, when cases of this kind occurred, to move for Papers.