§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that, before the voting papers for the Poor Law Election for Ballymacarret, there being four candidates in the field, were issued, a communication was sent to the Local Government Board requesting that the Clerk of the Belfast Union be instructed to place the names of the candidates in alphabetical order on the voting papers, and that this request has been disregarded, with the result that the names of two candidates, Dr. William Gibson and Mr. James Holywood, who are the nominees of the Belfast Conservative Association, appear on the list before the names of the other candidates; and whether the Local Government Board intend to take any action in the matter?
MR. J. MORLEYThe communication referred to was received by the Local Government Board, who, in reply, stated that the regulations for the annual election of Guardians had been framed, and that the Board could not interfere with the discretion of the Returning Officer in the manner requested. I have had inquiries made as to the practice adopted in this respect in Unions outside Ulster, and am informed that in the Unions of Cork City, Galway, Dublin (North), Kilkenny, and Sligo, it is not the practice of the Returning Officers to arrange the names of candidates in alphabetical order.