§ SIR FREDERICK HEYGATEsaid, he would beg to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether the Government approve of the recommendation of the Poor Law Commissioners for Ireland with respect to the Grant from the Consolidated Fund of "a moiety of the cost of medical salaries and of medical appliances in Irish workhouses and dispensaries" — namely, "that a large portion of the Grant should be applied to improve the medical arrangements of unions on the Western Coast of Ireland;" and, whether such an apportionment of the Grant would not be in distinct opposition to the practice in England of the re-payment of a moiety of the medical salaries and appliances of each union; contrary also to the intention of the Select Committee on Irish Taxation, who first called attention to the subject, and, in fact, involving an application of the principle of a "rate in aid?"
LORD NAASsaid, that in the early part of this year, when the Grant was voted for the first time by Parliament, he, on the part of the Poor Law Commissioners, submitted to the Treasury some suggestions as to the mode in which it was advisable to distribute the sum. It was finally determined that it would not be desirable to depart during the present year from the rule adopted in England — namely, that the money should be given in proportion to the expense incurred by the Union. The Grant for the year would, therefore, be distributed on that principle. If the proposal made by the Poor Law Commission had been carried out, the county which the hon. Member represented would have been benefited to the amount of £115, and Galway, another county which objected to the proposal, would also have been benefited. He therefore did not think that the question was properly understood in Ireland. With regard to the second portion of the Question, he must remind the hon. Member that this grant was, in fact, a rate in aid given from the Imperial to the local funds; and he hoped that that 330 fact would be borne in mind in considering this question in another year.