§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Chief Commissioner of the Irish Board of Works is an engineer; whether the two other Commissioners of that Board are also engineers; whether the Board have also a staff of engineers and architects to assist them; whether it was on the recommendation of this Board, consisting exclusively of engineers, that Lieutenant Colonel James, a retired officer of Royal Engineers, was recently appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Board; whether, since his appointment, Lieutenant Colonel James has applied to have the services of an additional engineer, in the person of Captain Rawson, to assist him; and, whether, since the Board so composed is entrusted with very varied powers and administrative duties in connection with the development of the material resources of Ireland, Her Majesty's Government will take into consideration the advisability of securing for the future that the Board shall not be so exclusively recruited from the ranks of a single profession?
§ MR. COURTNEYSir, the Chairman and Assistant Commissioner are retired officers of the Royal Engineers; the other two Commissioners are members of the Institute of Civil Engineers. By far the largest portion of the duties of the Board relate to buildings and engineering works; but I do not think it is necessary that the whole Board should be composed of engineers and architects, although they ought, no doubt, to preponderate upon it. The 933 Treasury have received no application on the subject of Captain Rawson.