§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieuten- 502 ant of Ireland what the practice of the Irish Land Commission is as regards the selection of assistant commissioners employed as appeal valuers; whether all assistant commissioners are employed on this duty in turn, or whether only certain of them are employed on it; and on what principles the assistant commissioners employed for the purpose are selected in either case.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThere are at present sixteen assistant commissioners working as appeal valuers. They are continuously employed in this work, and it is not the practice to employ assistant, commissioners to discharge this function in turn. The duty of selecting the appeal valuers is placed upon the Land Commission by the Land Law Act of 1881. The Commission, in the exercise of the statutory discretion confided to it, uses its knowledge and experience of such officials to select those whom it believes best qualified to discharge the duty of reporting to it upon holdings which are the subject of appeals and re-hearings
§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the 65 rule has recently been applied by the Irish Land Commission to several assistant commissioners; whether it applies to all employees of the Land Commission; and whether any employees of the Land Commission over sixty-five years of age have been retained; and, if so, who.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe Orders in Council respecting the compulsory retirement of all permanent officers in the Civil Service upon their attaining the age of sixty five apply to the members of the permanent staff of the Irish Land Commission, but the Land Commission have nothing to say to the application of these Orders so far as regards assistant commissioners. Five members of the permanent staff of assistant commissioners have come within the provisions of the Orders in question and have been awarded a retiring allowance by the Treasury. In three of these cases the Lord Lieutenant issued warrants enabling the officers in question to be employed for a further period of time as temporary assistant commissioners, their pensions to be in abeyance during the time they were so employed. The three gentlemen to whom such warrants were issued are Messrs. 503 O'Shaughnessy, Rice, and O'Keefe. There are also five other gentlemen above the age of sixty-five who hold warrants as temporary assistant commissioners. Their names are Messrs. Deane, Comyn, Roberts, Moroney, and Sproule. These gentlemen were never members of the permanent staff, and consequently have no claims to pensions, as in the cases of permanent officers, on retirement.