HC Deb 11 August 1881 vol 264 cc1524-5
MR. HEALY

asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it was owing to the fault of the Controller of the Stamp Department, Dublin, that the vast Col-clough frauds upon the Department and on the public, recently discovered, went on for so many years undetected; whether the question of relieving that officer from his appointment has been or is under consideration; whether it is the case that, prior to his appointment to this important post in Dublin, he was only a junior clerk in Somerset House; whether he was appointed to the former post over the heads of several competent men in the Department in Dublin, who were entitled by service to promotion; and, upon whose recommendation he got the post?

LORD FBEDERICK CAVENDISH

I am informed that, in the opinion of the Board of Inland Revenue, no blame is attributable to the Controller at Dublin for the frauds recently discovered there. It has not been, and is not, in contemplation to remove him from his appointment. Prior to his appointment he was Assistant Controller. He was chosen for the office by the Board of Inland Revenue, who considered him the fittest man for it, and on the recommendation of his superior officers.