§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Limerick, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that, in August last, there was a vacancy for the office of apothecary in Rathkeale Dispensary, County Limerick, and that advertisements were duly published, which stated that candidates wore required to have the qualification of "apothecary;" that there were only two applicants, one of whom was not qualified as an apothecary: that the latter, notwithstanding his want of the qualification, was elected by a majority of the Dispensary Committee, but the election was set aside by the Local Government Board; if he can explain why, under the circumstances, Mr. Cahill, the other candidate who, as the only applicant qualified in accordance with the requirement of the advertisement, was refused the appointment, why another election was ordered, and the new advertisement so framed as to render the formerly disqualified candidate eligible for election; whether he was elected; and what precedent there was for so acting under the circumstances?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe facts are substantially as stated in the first paragraph. Mr. Cahill did not obtain the requisite majority of votes, and his claim to be elected could not be admitted. It was, therefore, necessary to proceed to a new election, and, on the application of the Dispensary Committee, it was declared that the appointment might be filled by either an apothecary or a Pharmaceutical Chemist. Mr. Whelan, who holds the diploma of a Pharmaceutical Chemist, was elected in September. The Local Government Board have sanctioned the appointment of Pharmaceutical Chemists to discharge the duties of apothecaries in several Unions in Ireland.