§ MR. J. P. FARRELL (Cavan, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the rate collector, Pogue of the Cavan Union, absconded therefrom with a considerable amount of the rates, and then became a planter on the Clanricarde estate at Woodford; and that his defalcations were made good by his sureties, as admitted at the last meeting of the Cavan Board of Guardians; and, do the Government intend to allow him to escape without punishment, especially in view of the bad effect such a course may have on the conduct of other collectors of public money in Ireland?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOUROn Thursday last I stated in reply to a Question put by the hon. Member for South Galway on this subject that the Guardians had recovered from the defaulting collector and his sureties the full amount due by him. The Guardians would be the natural prosecutors in this case, and, although they are fully conversant with the facts, they do not apparently contemplate taking criminal proceedings against the late collector.