§ MR. DALY (Monaghan, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, whether he is aware that Mr. Fitzpatrick, of Inniskeen, was dismissed from the position of postmaster at Inniskeen owing to alleged intemperance in the post office on behalf of the friends of Mr. Fitzpatrick, and that a declaration has been sworn by two respectable persons that no drink was consumed on the post office premises on the 21st December last, and whether he will take steps to clear the character of Fitzpatrick and his family; whether he can now state how it was that Mr. S. Lockington, the present postmaster, was enabled to apply for the office, while the late postmaster did not know of his dismissal until the workmen came to take away the wires; and as the present postmaster, Lockington, does 1184 not live at Inniskeen, but at Dundalk, eight miles distant, if he will appoint someone that will be able to give their entire time to the duties of the office.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINSeveral questions on this subject put by the hon. Member have already been answered giving full information as to the reasons for declaring the Inniskeen office vacant. The occurrence of the 21st December last did not form the sole or principal cause of the action taken, which was grounded on the intemperance and generally unsatisfactory conduct of the persons carrying on the duties of the office, and the affidavit in question furnished no reason for reopening the question. As already stated in answer to the hon. Member's previous questions, the appointment of sub-postmaster at Inniskeen has not yet been filled. The person in whose charge the duties have been temporarily placed is not Mr. S. Lockington but Mr. W. Corrigan, whose premises were selected because they were the most convenient that could be found in the emergency. The duties at Inniskeen are not sufficient to justify the department in insisting on the person appointed giving his whole time to the service.