§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he is aware that the recent appointment of Mr. Mackintosh as Inspector of Poor for the Parish of Kiltearn, Ross-shire, has caused great dissatisfaction to several members of the Parish Council and inhabitants of the district; whether he, is aware that at the meeting of the Council for the election of an Inspector of Poor, Mr. Mackintosh resigned his seat on the Council, and in five minutes later he was proposed and elected to the vacant inspectorship, regardless of the fact that the Standing Order had not been suspended; that Mr. Mackintosh was elected by the casting vote of the chairman, Sir Hector Munro; and that the chairman subsequently withheld from the Council correspondence which had passed between himself as chairman and the Local Government Board for Scotland in regard to the appointment; will he explain why the Local Government Board for Scotland decline to furnish the dissenting Councillors with a copy of the chairman's letters to the Board relative to the appointment and whether the correspondence on the subject in possession of the Local Government Board for Scotland will be laid upon the Table of the House?
§ * THE LORD ADVOCATEI am aware that certain members of the Parish Council of Kiltearn are dissatisfied with the election of Mr. Mackintosh as Inspector of Poor; but on the other hand, the General Superintendent of the Local Government Board reports favourably of his qualifications. It is possible that the election may have been irregularly conducted, but both this and the proceedings of the chairman can only be reviewed in a court of law. The Secretary for Scotland has read the papers and approves of the action of the Local Government Board, and he does not consider that the public interest would be served by laying the correspondence on the Table of the House.