§ MR. J. L. CAREW (Dublin, College Green)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) if his attention has been called to the memorial of the Queen's County Grand Jury, dated the 30th of last month, praying the Lord Lieutenant to confer 712 on the Governors of the Maryborough Lunatic Asylum some power of checking the expenditure of the Board of Control; (2) is he aware that one of the halls in the asylum which was used as a refectory had to be closed in consequence of the inferior wood used in the flooring, also that the Governors have no voice in controlling the expenditure of the money which they are bound to provide; and (3) whether, seeing that the Governors have more local knowledge than the Board can have of the requirements of the institution, the Government will grant the prayer of the memorial?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have received a resolution passed on the 30th ultimo by the Queen's County Grand Jury on the subject referred to in the first paragraph. It is true that one of the halls of the asylum was closed for some time, though this was not in consequence of the inferior wood alleged to have been used in the flooring, but, according to the information supplied to me, because of the ill-usage to which the flooring had been subjected. No work, with one important exception, has been undertaken by the Board of Control in connection with this asylum without the approval of the Governors as a body, who had before them plans and estimates of the cost. The exception referred to was the case of the hurried provision of sanitary accommodation on the outbreak of an epidemic in 1891. It has been the practice of the Board of Control, in all cases, to confer with the Governors before undertaking works at the asylum, and this practice will be continued.