§ MR. T. W. RUSSELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can say how many inspectors, under the Explosives Act, 1875, there are in Ulster; to what districts they are assigned; what salary is paid, and whether it is a pensionable office.
§ MR. ATKINSONThere are forty officers in Ulster—thirty-four police and six civilians. Three civilians act without remuneration in the urban districts of Letterkenny, Newtownards, and Coleraine; two at Omagh and Londonderry receive £5 and £15 a year respectively; and the town clerk, who acts at Ballymena, received an increase of salary to 1183 cover these duties. Any such payments to civilians are made out of local rates. Whether the office is pensionable is an abstract question of law which has not been decided. The thirty-four members of the constabulary who act as officers elsewhere in Ulster perform the duties free of charge to the local rates.
§ MR. ATKINSONI must refer the hon. Member to the Act of Parliament.