§ MR. PATRICK M'HUGHI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) will he explain why the Local Government Board has issued a writ against the Newry Board 788 of Guardians for £21. 6s., paid by the Board to Mr. M'Govern, Cavan, for treatment of four persons bitten by a rabid dog in the Newry Union; (2) is he aware that in Ulster and Connaught there is an almost universal belief in the efficacy of M'Govern's cure of hydrophobia, and that clergymen and magistrates of all denominations have publicly proclaimed their belief in it; and (3) will he instruct the Local Government Board to leave Boards of Guardians free to exercise their own discretion in cases of this kind?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURIn answer to a Question put to me yesterday by the hon. Member for West Cavan, I stated fully the circumstances under which legal proceedings have been taken by the Local Government Board in this matter. I have no information as to the statements in the second paragraph, and as regards the suggestion at the end of the Question I must again point out that the Local Government Board are advised that M'Govern's house is not a hospital within the meaning of the 7th Section of the 25 & 26 Vict., cap. 83, as it is not an institution under the professional control and management of duly qualified medical practitioners in which the treatment is openly avowed and subject to proper investigation. The Local Government Board do not interfere with the discretion of Boards of Guardians as regards the selection of the hospital to which the inmates should be sent for special treatment so long as the terms of the Statute are complied with.