§ MR. GRAYasked Mr. Attorney General for Ireland, Whether the Local Government Board have power to postpone the payments due under the Seed Supply Act of 1880, in cases where they may be satisfied that owing to the high prices charged, the low rates now prevailing, and other circumstances, its stringent enforcement would inflict hardship upon those for whose benefit the Act was intended?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. W. M. JOHNSON)The Local Government Board were empowered by the Belief of Distress Amendment Act of 1880 to postpone payment of each special rate for one year, and by the Act of last Session to divide each rate into two equal parts, leviable in successive years. In the majority of the Unions in Ireland these powers have been exercised.