§ MR. MARUM (Kilkenny, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether his attention has been directed to the matter of the vacant Registrarship of Births and Deaths in the No. 1 (sub-divided) Dispensary District of the Poor Law Union of Kilkenny; whether, a vacancy in such Office having occurred in the month of November last, the Guardians, in pursuance of the directions of the Registrar General, proceeded to make an ap- 1548 pointment therein within the statutable period of 14 days; that two candidates presented themselves, duly qualified; that one of them, Dr. Hackett, claimed a "preference," pursuant to the Statute (26 Vict. c. 11, s. 23); that the Guardians, having given consideration to this preference, nevertheless, in the lawful exercise of their discretion in the matter, made their selection, and appointed the other candidate, Mr. Carroll, as Registrar, and did then call upon, and have since repeatedly urged, the Registrar General to sanction such appointment; whether, upon the occasion of the previous vacancy in this Office, the same claim of preference having been made by the same medical officer, under precisely similar circumstances, the Registrar General sanctioned the appointment of one Mr. Lalor; and, whether, in view of the public interest, he will call upon the Registrar General to ratify this exercise of the lawful patronage of the Guardians of the Union?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.), in reply, said, the Registrar General reported that the facts as stated in the Question were substantially accurate. The difference between the cases in question arose from the fact that legal proceedings were instituted in the latter case, and not in the former. The Registrar General had found it necessary to take legal advice in the matter, and the question was now before the Attorney General for Ireland.