§ MR. BOLANDTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland what are the regulations under which promotion takes place among the officials of the Natural History Museum, Dublin; is he aware that some officials are compelled to pass a further examination before obtaining the rank of museum assistant whilst others are promoted without such further examination; and, in view of the fact that an official of English birth has lately been promoted to the post of museum assistant without 940 having had to undergo the further examination, he will explain why an Irish official, an honours graduate in natural science of the Royal University of Ireland, who temporarily occupied the position of museum assistant during one year, and has since been employed as technical assistant in the Natural History Museum, is required, although nominated for the post of museum assistant by the keeper of the Natural History Museum, to pass a further examination in subjects quite foreign to the work of the museum.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The Department are in correspondence with the Treasury and the Civil Service Commissioners on the question of the mode of appointment of assistants in the Dublin Museum of Science and Art.