§ MR. DILLONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the language used by Mr. Bagwell at the annual dinner of the land agents of Ireland on Thursday last, when he is reported to have said "he had been called in to administer an Act of Parliament which of all Acts of Parliament ever drawn was the worst; the Land Act of 1896 was pretty bad, but the Act of 1898 would puzzle anybody, etc.; so long as the people who asked for impossibilities got half impossibilities they would never be satisfied"; and whether, if such language was used by Mr. Bagwell, he will be continued in his 386 office as a member of the Local Government Board?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI am informed by Mr. Bagwell that the report of his speech, which was obviously much condensed, gives a totally wrong impression of what he said, and that his observations in reference to the Local Government Act applied only to the manner in which it was drafted, and not to the policy of it, which he has always strongly supported. The subsequent remarks were mere generalities, and had no reference to the Local Government Act or to its administration by the Local Government Board. Under the circumstances, I do not consider that anything has occurred which would justify the strong step suggested in the second paragraph.