§ MR. KENNYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he is aware that the late Charles H. Ward, who was solicitor to the Belfast Board of Guardians for some years, and up to the time of his death, which occurred in last March, misappropriated several large sums of money which were entrusted to him by or on behalf of the guardians, amounting in the aggregate to upwards of £500; if it be true that the guardians have, up to the present, studiously avoided giving any publicity to these extensive defalcations to the ratepayers; have the guardians issued fresh cheques for application to the purposes for which Ward had already received them, but applied to his own use; what steps the Local Government Board propose to take with a view of indemnifying the ratepayers; and, if an inquiry will be granted to see if some of the guardians, who must have been aware of these frauds extending over a period of three years, should not be held personally liable?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, I have ascertained that there is a balance due to the Guardians on their account with their late solicitor of about £299—not upwards of £500 as stated in the Question. It is not the fact that the Guardians have, up to the present, studiously avoided giving any publicity to this defalcation. The circumstances and their proceedings in the matter were fully detailed in their Minutes of the 20th and 27th of February. In one case, the Guardians have been obliged to issue a second cheque, to meet a payment which should have been made on their behalf 910 by the late Mr. Ward. The amount of this cheque (£44 10s.) is included in the sum of £299 mentioned above as the total defalcation. The Guardians are in communication with the representatives of the late Mr. Ward on the subject of the balance due to them, and the Local Government Board do not consider that their interference in the matter is at present required. I am informed that the Guardians, individually, cannot be held to be personally liable for the defalcations referred to.