§ MR. BIGGARasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If his attention has been drawn to the Report of the proceedings of the Belfast Board of Guardians of Tuesday last, as it appeared in the "Belfast Northern Whig" newspaper, in which it is stated that Sub-constable M'Mahon reported that he had found three persons lying at the workhouse gate after eleven o'clock at night, who had previously obtained provisional orders for their admission from the relieving officers marked urgent, and whom the workhouse master refused to admit; if it be true that one of the persons is an old man seventy years of age, who, at the time of seeking admission, was suffering from a severe attack of hemorrhage, and, notwithstanding this fact, was kept lying on the roadside all night; if it be true that another of the persons is an infirm old woman sixty-seven years of age, who was also, according to Constable M'Mahon's Report, "kept sitting on the wet, cold, ground, outside the workhouse gate, all night;" if it be true that a majority of the guardians not only refused to inquire, or cause an in- 33 quiry to be made, into the circumstances, but actually adopted a Resolution approving of the master's conduct; if it be correct that the master has no legal or discretionary power to refuse admission to persons holding provisional orders for relief; if it be true that, on the preceding week, Sub-constable Burke made a similar complaint against the master for refusing to admit to the workhouse a destitute woman with two young children, and she and her children were kept lying on the roadside from eleven o'clock at night to half-past one on the following morning; and, what steps have the Local Government Board taken to prevent a recurrence of such conduct?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the attention of the Local Government Board has been drawn to the matter referred to in this Question, and they have had before them Reports on the subject made by the constable and by the master and porter of the workhouse. I understand the statements in the constable's Report substantially agree with those in the Question of the hon. Member; but that the workhouse officers' Reports differ from the police Reports, and that further inquiry is therefore necessary, and is now being instituted by the Local Government Board. The Guardians do not meet until Tuesday next; and I cannot answer the Question more fully until I learn the result of the further inquiry.