§ MR. HOOPER (Cork, S.E.)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether he is aware that the sum included for shorthand writers in the preliminary expenses of carrying out schemes under the Labourers' Acts in Ireland amounts to more than £3,000; whether the largeness of this sum is due to Inspectors carrying shorthand writers from Dublin to local inquiries at heavy cost for travelling and hotel expenses, as well as 241 for daily fees; whether the shorthand writers' bill in the case, for instance, of the Fermoy inquiry was £120; whether there is any reason to believe that the shorthand writers' work could, in most cases, be efficiently performed by local shorthand writers, and at much less expense; whether there is a Rule of the Treasury requiring Inspectors to employ local shorthand writers, and whether such Rule is almost wholly ignored; and, whether, under the circumstances, he will issue instructions to have this Rule strictly adhered to in future?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.), in reply, said, the charges in respect to shorthand writers in connection with the Labourers' Act were as stated in the Question. He understood that in many cases the Inspectors employed shorthand writers from Dublin. The charges were carefully checked, and the Treasury scale strictly adhered to. There was no such Treasury Rule as was mentioned in the Question.