§ CAPTAIN DONELANI beg to ask Mr. Attorney General for Ireland whether it is in the discretion of the Treasury to compensate policemen who may be injured when on duty; and, if so, why are Irish ratepayers saddled with a burden in this respect which is not cast upon English ratepayers.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.Every policeman injured in the discharge of his duty is entitled, irrespective of the length of his service, to a pension, the amount of which is determined by the Treasury according to the character and degree of the injury, in conformity with the scale prescribed by the Act 46 and 47 Vict., cap. 14. As regards the second part of the question, the reason why Irish ratepayers are liable to pay compensation in such cases is that an Act of Parliament, sixty-four years old, expressly re-enacted in the year 1898, and extended at the suggestion of several Nationalist Members to Belfast and Dublin, makes them so liable.