§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that inconvenience has arisen in the Queen's County owing to a contention raised by the secretary of the county council as to whether the notice given to him by that body under Section 115, Sub-section (5), of the Local Government Act was sufficient, the council being in the position that it is left in doubt whether the secretary is their officer or not; and whether he is aware that the official in question is over seventy years of age, and whether any steps can be taken to insure that the business of the county will be 716 carried on by an officer whose legal status is undoubted.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. G. W. BALFOUR)I am not aware that any inconvenience, such as is suggested, has arisen. If the notice served upon the official referred to was insufficient the county council, through their own negligence in that respect, have themselves to blame. The point is one for decision in a court of law in some proceeding between the council and their officer, and is not a matter in which either the Irish Executive or the Local Government Board can interfere.