§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, (1) whether he is aware that the auditor of the Irish Local Government Board has surcharged upon the Guardians of the Monaghan Union a sum of £10 paid by them to a sanitary officer who had become unfit for further duty after a service extending over 30 years; (2) whether he is aware that the 1019 board was entirely unanimous in voting this sum to their officer, who had reached the extreme old age of 92 years, arid was in a state bordering on destitution, and that no objection was raised by any ratepayer to the payment of the amount; and (3), will he, in these circumstances, instruct the Local Government Board to authorise their auditor to withdraw the surcharge, and permit the sum to be levied on the rates in the ordinary way?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe facts are stated with substantial accuracy in the first paragraph. The Board of Guardians were unanimous in wishing to grant a superannuation allowance to this man upon his retiring, in the early part of last year, from the office in question, but the Local Government Board explained to them that there was no legal enactment enabling the Guardians to make a payment of this nature, and that if made it would be liable to be disallowed by the auditor. The Local Government Board have no authority to interfere with the discretion of the auditor in reference to any cases of surcharge made by him.