§ MR. WILLIAM MOORE (Antrim, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if, in view of the fact that appointments to the clerical staff of the Congested Districts Board in Ireland have of late years been controlled by Civil Service competitive examination, and that appointments have been recently made to these positions in the case of which this rule has been relaxed or suspended, he will state if the persons so appointed were nominated or recommended by the Under-Secretary to the Commissioners who have the appointment; if this rule has ever been relaxed in the case of a Protestant candidate; and under what circumstances it was relaxed in the present case at the instance of the Under-Secretary and to the exclusion of Protestant candidates.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.)Appointments to the permanent clerical establishment of the Congested Districts Board are filled by means of competitive examination conducted in the ordinary manner by the Civil Service Commissioners. The last occasion on which such appointment was made was in 1898. The Question presumably refers to a class of official described as temporary clerks, the appointment of whom rests with the 1193 Board. A Sub-Committee of the Board was formed in May to select candidates for vacancies these temporary positions. Of the five persons appointed since May, four were recommended by the Committee, on which the Under-Secretary did not sit. All five nominations were approved by the Board. There is no official record of the religious denominations of the candidates.