CAPTAIN M`CALMONTI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether he is aware that Mr. Arthur Hamill attended eight out of the 14 meetings of the Belfast District Lunatic Asylum Board for 1892; (2) whether he is aware that Mr. Hamill is a Roman Catholic; (3) and if he will state on what general grounds his name was omitted from the Board for 1893?
*MR. J. MORLEY(1) From the Official Return of Attendances of the Governors of the Belfast District Lunatic Asylum before the Lord Lieutenant when constituting the Board for 1893, it appeared that the gentleman referred to in the question had attended during the nine months ended 30th September five out of nine meetings. (2) The reply to the inquiry in the second paragraph is an affirmative. (3) This gentleman was not nominated by the Grand Jury for the Board for 1893. The Lord Lieutenant, in forming that Board, accepted without question the persons nominated by the Grand Jury of the County Antrim and by the Belfast Corporation. But with a view to extending the representation on the Board, he appointed, as his own selection, some new members, and for the residue he made appointments from among the gentlemen who had served as the Lord Lieutenant's representatives on the Board for 1892, according to the attendances given by them; the only exception with regard to attendances being the Bishops of the two clinches, and in their cases it has not been the practice to enforce this requirement.
§ CAPTAIN M'CALMONTAre we to understand that the Lord Lieutenant, in making the appointments, excludes Catholics because they are Unionists?
§ [No answer was given.]