§ MR. L. P. HAYDEN (Roscommon, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to a judgment 459 recently delivered in the Court of Queen's Bench, Ireland, in the case of Doherty, a road contractor in Londonderry, the effect of which is that county contractors cannot be paid at the next Assizes for the work which they will then have completed; and, whether, in view of the fact that, if acted upon, the effect of the judgment will be to cause serious loss and inconvenience to a large body of people and the disarrangement of fiscal affairs of the various Irish counties, he will consider the advisability of introducing a short non-contentious Bill to remedy this state of things?
MR. J. MORLEYI am informed that the decision in the case referred to did not lay down the principle stated in the question, and was a decision on the particular facts of the case alone. I am also informed that its effect will not be as stated in the second paragraph, and that an appeal in the case is pending to the Court of Appeal.