§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR(for Mr. O'DOHERTY) (Donegal, E.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether claims for alleged actual expenses of Clerks of the Peace and for printing to the extent of £72,000 have been made to Grand Juries in Ireland at the present Assizes in respect of the revision of voters; whether this may involve between £50,000 and £60,000 additional local taxation to be borne exclusively by the occupiers of lands and houses in Ireland; whether the examination and taxation of these claims of county officials rests with brother officials of the Grand Jury, and if any instruction have been issued by the Local Government Board for the guidance of these taxing officers; whether almost all the £15,000 voted last year has gone in relief of the Poor Rate; whether the landlords have thereby escaped all taxation for the revision of voters; and, whether, under these circumstances, the Government will make provision in the Estimates for giving relief to the occupiers proportionate to what has been given to the owners?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle-on-Tyne), in reply, said, he was not aware of the amount of the claims made to the Grand Juries in respect of this work. Whatever the sum might be, it would be audited by the officers of the Local Government Board. In a great majority of cases the poor rate was paid half by the owner and half by the occupier; and the relief, therefore, afforded by the Parliamentary grant-in-aid—which, as the term implied, did not cover the whole charge on the poor rate — was shared in the like proportion.
§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORasked whether the expense was not paid out of the county cess, and not the poor rate?
§ MR. JOHN MORLEYI am informed that it is out of the poor rate.
§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORgave Notice of a further Question on the subject.