§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Irish Local Government Board would consider during the recess how far the defects of the present sanitary administration in Ireland might be remedied by the conversion of the present consulting sanitary officers into superintendent officers for their respective unions, or by the appointment of others in their places, thus securing that unity, &c. of medical administration, the want of which suggested the appointment of county officers of health; whether he is aware that the Dublin medical press, as well as many medical officers, have from time to time suggested the necessity for a return to the former order of things; and whether, in the appointment of future medical inspectors, he would consider the desirability of appointing men with a recognised position in their profession, and with that knowledge of hospital work which can alone be derived from connection with they very poor law hospitals which they would be called on to inspect.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURWith reference to the first and second paragraphs, the question of the appointment of consulting sanitary officers and medical superintendent officers of health has been engaging the attention of the Local Government Board for some time. As regards the third paragraph, I am not aware that the desirability of appointing men with a recognised position in their profession to these posts has ever been ignored.