§ MR. TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Local Government Board for Ireland adopted last year a reduced scale for payment to clerks of Unions and poor rate collectors for their services in connection with the Registration Acts; that payments subsequently made to these officials under the former scale for work done while the former scale was in force were surcharged by the auditors of the Local Government Board in different Unions; that the County Court Judge for Monaghan has decreed a Board of Poor Law Guardians for the full amount under the old scale in a test case brought before him by the Union officials interested; whether, since this decision, lawsuits involving costs to the rates have 1468 been taken by these officials against several Boards of Guardians for payment under the old scale, and the Local Government Board, in a letter dated 2nd June last, have refused to give the Tobercurry Board of Guardians any definite advice in the matter; and whether he is prepared to recommend that the Local Government Board shall take competent legal advice as to the exact scope and legality of their Orders in this matter, and advise the Board of Guardians accordingly, so as to save litigation with their officials and consequent loss to the rates in various Unions in Ireland?
MR. J. MORLEYThis question was only placed on the Paper this morning for the first time, and there has not been sufficient time to obtain a Report to enable me to reply to it to-day.