§ MR. D. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland has he seen a letter addressed to the Local Government Board by Dr. Crawford, medical officer of the Castleshane Division of the Monaghan Union, in which he complains that the relieving officer refused to have a fever patient, named Mrs. Duffy, removed to hospital; and a daughter of Mrs. Dully was ill at the same time of malignant typhus fever; that the house in m inch the family, consisting altogether of eight persons lived, contained only two small rooms, and that Mrs. Duffy 1454 died from the disease; also that, in another case, where a patient was too ill for removal, the relieving officer declined to supply the necessary nourishment and stimulants, and that the doctor, rather than see his patient die, ordered and paid for these articles himself; is he aware that the Monaghan Board of Guardians refused to refund to Dr. Crawford the money he expended in this case, on the ground that there was a resolution on their hooks against giving out-door relief, which resolution could not be rescinded without 14 days' notice; is it legal for a board of guardians to have such a resolution on their books; and, what action does the Local Government Board intend to take in this matter?
§ *THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR, Leeds, Central)The Local Government Board are not at present in possession of all the facts of this case, but they have ordered an Inquiry on oath for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of the statements made.