§ COLONEL WARING (Down, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether a 478 petition, signed by 258 ratepayers of the Union of Listowel, County Kerry, which was forwarded to the Local Goverment Board of Ireland on the 22nd of April 1896, praying for the appointment of paid guardians to that Union on the ground of the increase in the expenditure for outdoor relief which has risen from £8 in 1880 to £3,000 in 1895, has been received; and, what steps he intends to take in the matter?
§ * MR. GERALD BALFOURThe petition referred to has been received. There is no doubt the Listowel Guardians have been lavish in the administration of outdoor relief in recent years, though, speaking generally, they discharge their duties efficiently. The amount expended on outdoor relief has been somewhat reduced in the last two years, and a strong remonstrance was addressed to the Guardians at a recent audit which, it is hoped, will have the effect of still further curtailing this item of expense without suffering to the poor. The ratepayers will of course have a remedy in their own hands at the annual election of Guardians; but the matter will not be lost sight of by the Local Government Board, and the next report of their auditor will be carefully considered.