§ MR. FFRENCHTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Wexford County Council passed a resolution requesting the Irish Local Government Board to alter the dates for closing the collection of county rates from the 31st March and 30th September to 1st May and 1st November, and that the Local Government Board refused to do so owing to the existing state of the law; and if so, whether, for the convenience of both ratepayers and collectors, he would undertake to bring about the proposed alteration either by legislation or otherwise.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The financial half-years are fixed by the Local Government Act, 1898, and the Orders made thereunder, and the Board has no power to vary these dates. The present arrangements involve no hardship on the ratepayers, and the collection of the rates has been characterised by remarkable punctuality. It is not proposed to introduce legislation with the object suggested in the Question.