§ MR. CAREWI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the business of guardians as a local authority under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1894, which was transferred to the County Council by the Local Government (Ireland) Act, has, by an Order of the Local Government Board of the 19th July, 1899, been retransferred to the guardians as District Council; and whether the Local Government Board has power to make an Order overruling an Act of Parliament; and, if so, whether the rights of clerks of unions for loss of office as existing officers are preserved.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. G. W. BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe reply to the first paragraph is in the negative. The Board's Order of the 19th July does not refer to the business of the guardians under the Diseases of Animals Act, 1894, which was transferred to the County Council by Section 6 (b) of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898; but it empowers urban and rural district councils to appoint inspectors of dairies, milkshops, and cowsheds in accordance with the provisions of Section 9 of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1896. The rights of clerks of unions to compensation for loss of office are not interfered with by the Local Government Board's Order above referred to.