§ MR. TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether ho 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 in- 1638 volving costs to the rates have 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 of 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 Hoard 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. MORLEYThe facts are generally as stated in the first and second paragraphs. The Local Government Board were advised that the Order of the 23rd of September last applied to all payments made after that date, and that the facts that the services in question, or some of them, were performed before that date made no difference. In recent cases the Board have suggested to Boards of Guardians that they should act as advised by their own solicitor or counsel before making payments for duties discharged prior to the issue of the recent Order, and this course was followed in the Tobercurry case referred to. In the absence of a decision of a High Court on the point, the Board have deemed it expedient to suggest this course to the Guardians in every case in which they are called upon to give a decision. The Board's advice to the Guardians will of course influence the auditors in their action.
§ MR. SEXTONWill the right hon. Gentleman take any steps to get a decision of the High Court on the subject? The Guardians are in this dilemma: If they pay on the old scale they are surcharged, and if under the new they are decreed by the County Court Judge.