§ MR. JUSTIN M'CARTHY (for Mr. SEXTON)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware that, on the 18th instant, the North Dublin Union Board of Guardians elected Mr. James Jenkinson, ex-petty officer of the Navy, to be master of the Union Workhouse; whether the public advertisement, by which the Board invited candidates to present themselves for the vacant offices, specified, among the conditions of election, one, expressed in the following terms, "a knowledge of the duties indispensable;" whether it is the fact that Mr. Jenkinson's official experience, being confined to the Navy, afforded him no knowledge of the duties of a workhouse master; whilst Mr. Thomas Murphy, the candidate second on the poll, had nine years' experience of the duties of the office, as Master of the Kilkenny Workhouse; and, whether the Local Government Board will decline to sanction the election of Mr. Jenkinson, because of his failure to satisfy the indispensable conditions, and will declare Mr. Thomas Murphy, as the candidate, satisfying all conditions, who received the highest number of votes, duly elected to fill the vacant office?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, the facts are, in the main, as stated. The question of sanctioning Mr. Jenkinson's appointment is still under the consideration of the Local Government Board, who have instructed their Inspector to report as to his fitness for the office. The only question the Board have to decide is whether they can sanction Mr. Jenkinson's appointment or not. They have no power to declare Mr. Murphy elected.