HC Deb 02 June 1902 vol 108 cc1122-3
MR. WILLIAM JOHNSTON (Belfast, S.)

On behalf of the Right hon. Member for South Antrim, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that a member of the Granard Rural District Council has taken possession of a cottage erected under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts; whether this person is entitled to such occupation; and, if not, whether the attention of the Local Government Board will be drawn to the matter.

THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. WYNDHAM,) Dover

My right hon. friend has sent me a newspaper report, from which it appears that the fact is as stated. A district councillor may be a tenant of a cottage if he is an agricultural labourer. Whether the councillor in the present case is eligible from this point of view, I cannot say. The matter is one which concerns the Council, and the Local Government Board has no power to intervene. No legal disqualification for the office of councillor attaches to a person by reason of his being the tenant of a labourer's cottage.