§ MR. KENNEDY (Kildare, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Constabulary at Naas and Newbridge, County Kildare, frame their summons under the Towns Improvement Act for offences committed in those towns in their own names in a 1386 large number of cases, and not in the names of the Town Commissioners; whether the fines thus inflicted are diverted from being wholly applied in relief of the town rate, as only a small portion of them are so applied when the cases are brought forward in that way; and whether he will communicate with the Inspector General with a view of having this irregularity rectified?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. MORLEY,) Newcastle-upon-TyneThe police at Naas and Newbridge are sometimes in the habit of prosecuting in their own name at Petty Sessions for offences under the Towns Improvement Act. This practice arose from the fact that Courts under the Towns Improvements Act were rarely held in these towns. The fines inflicted in such cases are not wholly applied to the relief of the town rates. The irregularity that now exists will be remedied.
§ MR. KENNEDYWill the Government compensate the Local Authorities for the funds which they have lost owing to this irregularity?
§ MR. J. MORLEYI must ask for notice of that question.