§ MR. VESEY KNOX (Londonderry)I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether the attention of the Local Government Board has been called to the resolutions passed by the Derry Corporation on Tuesday last relating to the issue of stock, which depart in several material respects from the forms prescribed by the Order in Council; whether these resolutions in particular do not say when the stock is to be issued or at what time or in what manner it is to be paid for, and provide for the payment of a half-year's dividend on 1st July even if there should be some months' delay in the issue; whether the resolution purporting to fix the price only fixes a minimum price, and does not direct how the actual price of issue is to be ascertained; and whether, under the circumstances, the resolutions are effectual for their purpose?
The HON. MEMBER further asked the right hon. Gentleman whether his attention has been called to a statement by the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Derry Corporation that the Corporation could not issue stock on as favourable terms as English Corporations, owing to the nature of the regulations made by the Irish Local Government Board; and whether the Local Government Board will consider the advisability of altering any regulations which may have had this effect?
§ *THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.The Town Clerk reports 867 that the statement ascribed to the Chairman of the Finance Committee is substantially correct, but that its meaning and purport are not quite accurately represented in the first paragraph of the Question, and further that the Corporation are advised by counsel that they have acted within their powers in passing the resolution which they have passed. The regulations of the Irish Local Government Board are practically identical with those framed by the Local Government Board in England. No change in their form is desirable. The proceedings of the Municipal Authorities are not under the supervision of the Local Government Board, or any other department of the Executive. The creation and issues by the Corporation of their stock in conformity with the law is a matter of their own concern, and I therefore beg to decline to express any opinion on the legal point mentioned in the third paragraph, on which they have apparently received advice.