§ MR. HEALYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the pay clerk to the Baronial Works at Ballydehob, county Cork, is paid a salary of £4 per week; whether, being principal merchant of the barony, he supplies all the tools, wheelbarrows, picks, crowbars, &c., to the workmen employed on the Baronial Works; whether the amount of wages paid to seine of the labourers is not frequently as low as 9s. and 4s. per week; whether the payments of wages to labourers are not frequently paid in an irregular manner, so as practically to bring about the truck system, inasmuch as the labourers have to deal with the clerk for provisions, &c.; and, whether the labourers at Cappaglass, Dirrindnord, and Dirriconnell, within about two miles of Bally- 751 dehob, after being at work during five weeks, had only received two payments of wages in that time—one payment being made on the 27th February and the other on the 2nd March, both payments being thus made in the same week?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERI find, on inquiry, that the division to which the Question refers is not comprised in the jurisdiction alluded to. As far as the rate of salary paid is concerned, I find that for similar services the Board of Works do not pay more than from 25s. to 30s. per week; but I do not know that the committee in this case cannot, if they choose, sanction the payment of a higher scale. It is the duty of the county surveyor and the standing committee to attend to these matters. It is open to all persons aggrieved to make complaints to the Board of Works or the Irish Executive, and in the event of their so doing such complaints will be fully inquired into.