HC Deb 16 March 1899 vol 68 cc980-1
MR. M. HEALY (Cork)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that considerable difficulty exists at present in obtaining copies of some of the Orders and Rules made under the Local Government Bill; and whether he will arrange to have published at an early date an official collection of all Orders in Council, Rules of Court, and sealed Orders and Rules of all kinds of the Local Government Board made under or in consequence of the Local Government (Ireland) Act?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

I believe there has been delay in the issue of some of the Orders in Council and Rules for sale by the Stationery Office, owing, no doubt, to the very unusual pressure on the printers in connection with the Local Government Act. I have no doubt that an official publication of the Rules and Orders under the Act, such as the honourable Member suggests, would be of much advantage to the local authorities and to the public generally, but I do not consider that such a publication should be issued until the Act is in operation, and all the Orders, in-cluding the Registration Orders, are made,

MR. M. HEALY

Are not Orders issued from day to doy dealing with questions which arise as the clauses come in force, and are they not inaccessible to us?

MR. DILLON

May I suggest that arrangements might be made to circulate them to Members of the House as soon as they are issued?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

I will inquire into that.