§ MR. COGANasked the Secretary to the Treasury, If he can state on what 1989 grounds the salaries of the Inspectors of Irish Prisons have been fixed by the Treasury at £500 per annum, rising in five years to £600, when the salaries of the Inspectors of Prisons in Scotland are £600 per annum, rising in five years to £700,and in England £700 per annum, rising in five years to £800; and, whether the duties to be discharged are the same in each part of the United Kingdom?
§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSONSir, in answer to the Question of the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Kildare County, I have to say that the Irish Government recommended the Treasury, in February, 1878, that the salaries of these Inspectors should not be less than £400 a-year each. In August of that year, on re-consideration of the question, they recommended the present salaries of £500 a-year, rising to £600; and the Treasury, naturally supposing that the Irish Government had the best opportunity of judging of the work to be done, sanctioned that amount. I would point out to the right hon. Gentleman that, with regard to the duties to be discharged, they are not the same in all parts of the country, and we must consider, not alone the nature but the quantity of the work; and if we are to judge by the number of the prisoners to be inspected, it will be found that the relative number in Ireland is much smaller. In England the average number of prisoners inspected is 2,985; in Scotland, 1,693; while the Irish Inspectors have only 1,347 prisoners to inspect. The Question, however, hardly admits of a formal explanation in reply, and I would suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that the most convenient course to be pursued would be to raise the point on the Estimates on the Irish Prison Board.