§ MR. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether his attention has been directed to a correspondence which has taken place between the Balrothery Rural District Council, county of Dublin, and the Local Government Board in reference to the standard rate of county cees certified for that district; whether he is aware that the grand jury records show that whereas the standard rate referred to has been certified to be 1s. 11¼d. in the pound, the county cess actually paid in the standard year was considerably higher in three out of the four baronies of which the district consists, reaching in one barony the figure of 3s. 3d. in the pound; and, if so, what is the explanation of the standard rate being so low; and whether the Local Government Board, in view of the duty cast upon it to correct mistakes in its certificates of standard rates in the event of any mistakes being pointed out to it, is entitled to refuse information as to the manner in which it has arrived at the result of which complaint is made.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe Local Government Board have been in correspondence with the Balrothery Rural District Council relative to the statements made by the Council as to county 1354 cess in the standard year. The Board have not refused to afford the Council any information; on the contrary, they have explained to the Council that the statements contained in their resolution of the 17th ultimo were incorrect, as the baronies of Balrothery East and West, which comprise three-fifths of the whole valuation of the rural district, had a county cess in the standard year of only 1s. 7½d. and 1s. 5d. respectively, while the portion of Coolock, of which barony the cess was taken at 3s. 3¼d., had a valuation of only one-seventh of that of the whole district. The standard rate of county cess in the Balrothery rural district is certified by the Board to be 1s. 11¼d.