§ MR. W. A. MACDONALDI beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to a series of resolutions recently passed by the Roscommon Board of Guardians, and unanimously approved by the Guardians of the Mountmellick Union, of which the following is a summary:—That the number of workhouses being now greatly in excess of the requirements of the poor, most (if not all) of the additional Unions established by the Boundary Commissioners in 1848 should be amalgamated with the adjoining Unions, and their workhouses closed or applied to other purposes; that some of the workhouses might be usefully employed for the reception of pauper idiots and lunatics; that others might be converted into male and female district schools where the pauper children, whose education is at present most defective, might receive a suitable literary and industrial training; and whether he will consider the practicability of carrying out these recommendations?
§ MR. MADDENThe resolutions referred to were duly received by the Local Government Board. The general question of the amalgamation of Unions in Ireland has already engaged the attention of the Irish Government, but it is a subject not without difficulty. They hope, however, to take the first opportunity of again considering the matter.