§ MR. BYRNEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a Report of the proceedings of the Baltinglass Union, at their meeting, held on the 15th June instant, for the purpose of accepting tenders for supplies, and other business, when a tender which was not the lowest was accepted; and, whether he will cause the Local Government Board to inquire into this misapplication of the ratepayers' money, and have the lowest tender accepted?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Clerk of Baltinglass Union reports that the contract for the supply of beef to the workhouse was given to a person whose tender was one farthing in the pound higher than the amount in the lowest tender, while the price for mutton in both tenders was the same, and that the consumption of mutton is greater than beef. The Guardians, in their advertisement inviting tenders, distinctly declined to bind themselves to accept the lowest or any of the tenders, and they considered that under the circumstances of the case they were justi- 1148 fied in accepting the particular tender above referred to. The Local Government Board see no cause for their interference.