§ MR. CAREWI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the County Wicklow County Council, at the suggestion of its secretary, adopted a resolution on 27th February, 1900, directing the secretary to inform the clerks of the several rural district councils that by order of the county council the forms of notice of motion, tender and contractor's bond, as also forms 11, 12, 13, and 14, prescribed by the District Accounts Order, 1899, have been prepared and are supplied free on application to the secretary's office, and that the council will not in future entertain proposals from rural district councils unless made on the forms so provided, etc.; whether a county council can compel a district council to accept forms supplied at higher cost to the ratepayers than the district council itself can procure by contract; and whether it has any power to refuse to accept forms sent up by the district council which are in accordance with the rules laid down by the Local Government Board, merely because they are not the forms supplied by a particular printer.
§ MR. ATKINSONA resolution to the effect stated in the question was adopted by the Wicklow County Council at their meeting on the 27th ultimo. The direction given would appear to be for the purpose of obtaining uniformity in such matters and does not, in the opinion of the Local Government Board, call for any interference on their part. The answer to the second and third paragraphs is in the negative.