§ MR. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Aughnacloy, where Dr. Phillips resides, is twelve miles from portions of the dispensary district of which that gentleman has charge; can any cases be cited in England where the poor needing medical relief have to travel twelve miles in order to obtain it; and if the Local 455 Government Board cannot see their way to adopt the proposal made by the Rev. Father Callan, P.P., to have the five divisions of Truagh erected into a dispensary district, with a resident medical officer, will they devise some other scheme to mitigate the hardships now endured by the poor of the locality.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe fact may be as stated in the first paragraph, though, I believe, the distance in a direct line from the doctor's residence to the most remote points in the district is not more than nine miles; and this distance is not so great as in many other districts in Ireland. I have no information as to the second paragraph. The district of Aughnacloy was formed many years ago; no complaints have hitherto been received as to the distances to be travelled by the sick poor of the district, and the Local Government Board do not consider that any inconvenience is inflicted on the poor by the continuance of the existing arrangements, the more especially as a new medical depôt is to be opened in the district.