§ MR. J. P. FARRELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether he is aware that the Longford Board of Guardians, at their meeting on 25th April, offered to leave the advertising for a competent person to discharge the duties of night nurse in the hands of the Local Government Board, but that Major Fair regarded this offer as a refusal to comply with the Board's request; (2) whether he is also aware that the fact of the refusal of the Guardians to admit paying patients to their infirmary for surgical treatment renders the presence of a night nurse unnecessary; and (3) will he order a thorough inquiry into the whole subject by a medical inspector of the Local Government Board, before sanctioning any decision put forward for his approval for the dissolution of the local Board of Guardians?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI am making inquiry into the matters alleged in the first and second paragraph. The nursing arrangements in the Longford Workhouse have formed the subject of frequent communication with the Board of Guardians, and before the Question of the hon. Member was placed on the Paper the Local Government Board had instructed their medical inspector to visit the workhouse and to report whether the person proposed to be appointed by the Guardians as night nurse possesses sufficient qualifications to enable the present arrangement in that respect to become permanent. Pending the receipt and consideration of the Report of the medical inspector no further action in the matter will be taken.