MR. HOGAN (Tipperary, Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a labourer named John Allen, in the division of Cappagh, Union of Tipperary, had a representation paper duly lodged with the Tipperary Board of Guardians for a cottage now erected on the estate of Hugh Scott, J. P., Kilbeg; that the Guardians for the division erroneously represented to the Board that Allen had left the country, with the result that a smith was returned for the said cottage and plot; that a protest, signed by the leading ratepayers of the division against the action of the Guardians in illegally returning a tradesman for a labourer's cottage, was forwarded to the Local Government Board and the Tipperary Board of Guardians; that the Local Government Board advised the Guardians of the illegality of their action; and that such advice has been ignored: and whether he will take the necessary steps to secure the appointment of Allen as tenant of this cottage and plot, to which Allen is entitled as a bonâ fide, agricultural labourer and the person who duly lodged the representation paper, on the strength of which the cottage was built?
THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. MORLEY, Newcastle-upon-Tyne)The facts are as stated in paragraph 1. The selection of tenants is a matter which rests entirely with the Guardians, and the Local Government Board have no power to act as suggested in the last paragraph of the question.