§ MR. W. KENNY (Dublin, St. Stephen's Green)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether it is the fact that the Board of Guardians of the North Dublin Union have reduced the payments to the collectors of the Collector General of Rates Office for their services in the year 1893 under the Parliamentary Registration Acts from £231 16s., the amount paid in 1892, to £120; whether the duties performed by those collectors in 1893 were similar in character and extent to and quite as onerous as those in the preceding years; if in calculating this reduced sum the scale of payment applicable to the rural collectors has been adopted less by about 20 per cent., notwithstanding that the city work is much heavier in proportion to the number of ratings, and that the same Board previously condemned the scale on the ground of the insufficiency of the remuneration; and whether he will take any steps with a view to securing to those collectors adequate remuneration for their services and preventing inequality of treatment?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. MORLEY,) Newcastle-upon-TyneIt is the fact that the Board of Guardians of the North Dublin Union have reduced the payments to the collectors of the Collector General at Rates Office for their services in the year 1893 under the Parliamentary Registration Acts from £231 16s., the amount paid in 1892, to £120. In 1892 four collectors were employed, while in the present year the work was performed 921 by three collectors, whose duties in both years wore, I understand, similar in character. The Local Government Board have no information as to the manner in which the Guardians calculated the scale of payment, but it may be observed that under Section 23 of the Representation of the People (Ireland) Act, 1868, the Guardians are required to make such annual allowance to the Collector General out of the rates "as the Guardians shall think proper."