§ MR. MACALEESEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether the pay of senior district inspectors in the Royal Irish Constabulary is £330 a year, whilst the pay of senior head constables is but £104 a year; whether each senior district inspector receives an annual allowance of £50 far the keep of a horse, £45 for a servant, and £40 for lodging expenses, whilst a senior head constable receives but £2 10s. a year as a contribution towards his lodgings; whether an ordinary constable in many English towns is paid on a higher scale of remuneration than a head constable in the Royal Irish Constabulary receives; and, as the Irish head constable is next in rank to the district inspector and has frequently to perform the higher duties, will anything be done to remove the disparity existing in regard to their respective salaries.
§ * MR. G. W. BALFOURThe pay of a first-class district inspector of the Constabulary is at the rate of £300 per annum. This rate can only be attained after many years' service. The salary of a district inspector of the third class is £125, and of a senior head constable £104 a year. The various allowances to officers and head constables will be found fully set forth in the Estimates. I have no official information as to the rates of pay in the English force, but I doubt whether the statement in the third paragraph is correct. There is no disparity between the salaries of a head constable and district inspector not justified by differences of position and duties, and the answer to the last paragraph is in the negative.