§ MR. DALY (Monaghan, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the order made by the Local Government Board giving dispensary doctors a month's holiday each will cost the ratepayers of Ireland several thousand pounds annually; whether he can state if boards of guardians were consulted before issuing this order; whether he can explain why this order was only made after the Government had fixed a contribution in relief of rates based on the standard year of 1896; and whether he will direct the Local Government Board 585 to pay at least the half of the cost of doctors' substitutes in the future.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative, but the increased charge on each union will be scarcely appreciable. The entire cost would amount, on an average, to something less than one-sixth of a penny in the pound in each case, but in many unions it has always been the practice to make this allowance, and in such cases there is no extra expense on the ratepayers. The new dispensary regulations were not submitted in draft to the guardians. As I have already pointed out, the new regulations had, in any case, to be made in consequence of the abolition of dispensary committees and the transfer of their powers to boards of guardians. The financial arrangements of the Local Government Act had nothing to do with the matter. There is no legal power to comply with the suggestion contained in the fourth paragraph.