§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN, (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Judges of the Court of Bankruptcy in Ireland in 1896 submitted to the Lord Chancellor for his approval an Order enabling the official assignees of the Court of Bankruptcy to be appointed as official assignees and receivers and to other appointments; and, if so, what are these other appointments. Has any correspondence passed between the official assignees of the Court of Bankruptcy and the Judges of that Court, and between them and the Lord Chancellor, and between the Lord Chancellor and the Judges of the Court of Bankruptcy, or any other and what other Judges, or between the officials of the Court of Bankruptcy upon the subject; have any communications passed between the Lord Chancellor and the 1127 Chambers of Commerce; and, if so, what was the nature of such communications; and what were the words of the proposed Order as first submitted by the Judges of the Court of Bankruptcy to the Lord Chancellor?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe Judges of the Court of Bankruptcy were some time ago in communication with the Lord Chancellor on the subject of the proposed Order, but it would not be in accordance with practice to publish such communications. Communications on the subject of the proposed Order have also been addressed to the Lord Chancellor by Chambers of Commerce and other public bodies, but nothing further has been done by the Lord Chancellor and the Judges in respect of the making of the Order. The proposed Order, and the public correspondence in reference to it, have all been published in the Press, and are known to every one who is interested in the matter.