§ MR. CHARLES CRAIGOn behalf of the hon. Member for North Antrim, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the information from candidates for, or Civil servants in, public departments in Ireland as to their respective places of education, already given for the purposes of the Civil Service or their respective departments is to be regarded as confidential, or if such can be published without the assent of such candidate or servant; and if this rule applies to the Civil Service in England.
§ MR. WALTER LONGI cannot answer this Question in the general form in which it is tramed. In some cases the information supplied would not be treated as confidential; in other cases it would be so treated. The point must depend on the occasion and circumstances under which the information was communicated. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the same rule applies to the Civil Service in England.
§ MR. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that in recent years a similar Return was ordered by Parliament in connection with Assistant Land Commissioners and resident magistrates, and that there is, too, an annual Return showing the religion of Irish justices of the peace? Does he still adhere to his statement that there is no precedent for such a Return?
§ MR. WALTER LONGI am not aware I ever said there was no precedent. What I said was that in granting a Return I must be guided by the advice of my law officers both as to my powers and as to the rights of those affected by the proposed Return.
§ MR. MACVEAGHSurely if Parliament has a right to demand information from Justices of the Peace it can do so from public servants whose salaries are on the Estimates.
§ MR. WALTER LONGIt is not for me as a layman to interpret the law. It is for the law officers, and by their opinion I shall be guided.