DR. FITZ GERALD (Longford, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if the attention of the Local Government Board has been directed to the Report of the proceedings of the Belfast Board of Guardians at their usual weekly meeting held on 20th March, 1889, at which a Committee of the Guardians reported to the Board serious frauds and other irregularities in connection with the supply of new milk in the Union Stores, and stated that no matter what question they put to Robinson, the storekeeper, he tried to evade it, and that the answers given by him were misleading and inaccurate; is the Chairman of the Committee correctly reported as having stated that he had come to the conclusion "that Robinson was either culpably guilty of prevarication or totally incompetent to discharge his duties, or both combined;" do the defalcations for a short period amount to £61 15s. 4d.; and will an independent inquiry be immediately ordered so as to fix responsibility upon the defaulting offiicials, and thus have the amount of the deficit restored to the credit of the rates?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Clerk of the Belfast Union reports that some verbal statements reflecting on the storekeeper have been made to the Board of Guardians by a Committee appointed by them to inquire into the subject of the milk supply. It appears that the storekeeper, instead of deducting from the contractor a sum of 4d. for each gallon short of the supply required in accordance with the contract, represents that he deducted the actual cost only of the substitute provided in lieu of the deficiency, the difference between the two amounts being represented by the sum of £61 15s. 4d. The Governors, at their meeting on Tuesday last, adopted a Resolution requesting the Local Government Board to hold a sworn inquiry into the matter. The request is now under consideration.