§ CAPTAIN DONELANOn behalf of the honourable Member for North Cork, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that at the recent elections in Ireland held under the Local Government Act, 1898, petty sessions clerks were engaged as deputy returning and presiding officers in nearly every county in Ireland except the county of Cork; if he can state, in view of the fact that they have frequently discharged the duties of presiding officers at the Parliamentary elections in Cork county, why they were not eligible to serve at these local government elections; and, whether the Registrar of Petty Sessions Clerks gave permission to them to act; if so, why were they debarred from acting on this occasion.
MR. G.W.BALFOURThe facts, I am informed, are stated with substantial accuracy in the question. Deputy returning and presiding officers are appointed by the returning officers, and I assume that the Returning Officer for Cork, in not employing a Petty Sessions Clerk to act in the capacity mentioned at the recent elections, was guided by the terms of a 350 circular issued to these officers in 1884, which prohibited them from taking any part in Parliamentary, Municipal, or Poor Law Elections, except to record their votes. It is apparent that the terms of this circular have not been complied with. There are obvious objections to the employment of Petty Sessions Clerks in the capacity stated, at all events in the districts for which they are appointed as clerks, and the whole subject is now under the consideration of Government.