§ MR. DALY (Monaghan, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he will order an inquiry into the dismissal of a man named Fitzpatrick, who was postmaster at Inniskeen, county Monaghan, by an inspector named Lockington, whose brother has now got the post office; whether it is the practice for officials of the Post Office to be sent to localities where their relations reside, as in the case of this inspector, by which the late postmaster at Inniskeen has lost his position; whether he can state who selected the present postmaster, and if anyone else in the locality had the opportunity of applying for the position or of knowing that it was vacant before the workmen of the Post Office went to remove the telegraph wires from the old office; and whether he can state if the present postmaster at Inniskeen applied for the post; and, if so, who informed him that the position was vacant, as the late postmaster did not know of his dismissal until the workmen came to remove the telegraph wires.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe decision respecting the Inniskeen office was not arrived at without due consideration; and it is not in the Postmaster General's opinion necessary to reopen the matter. When it is necessary to institute such an investigation the 449 officer whose normal duty it is is sent irrespective of the question whether his relatives reside in the neighbourhood or not. The officer who conducted the inquiry in the present instance was at the time acting as postmaster at the Dundalk office, to which the Inniskeen office is subordinate, and it was part of his ordinary duty to conduct it. As already stated in reply to the hon. Member's question of the 1st instant, the person at present acting as sub-postmaster at Inniskeen is merely acting temporarily, and no appointment has as yet been made. The officer who made the inquiry is not responsible for his selection; and before an appointment is made the qualifications of all the candidates will be carefully considered.
§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)Is it proper for an official to give a postmaster ship to his brother without notice, and have the Department no remark to make on it?
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe inspector did not even temporarily give the job to his brother. The Postmaster General takes full responsibility.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINI am afraid I have no information as to that.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYWas the man who was dismissed a Catholic and the one appointed in his place a Protestant?
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINI have no information on that point.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYFreemasonry again.