§ MR. WILLIAM MOORE (Antrim, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that a meeting of the Congested Districts Board, under, the chairmanship of Sir Antony MacDonnell and including the Roman Catholic Bishop of Raphoe and the Rev. Denis O'Hara and five other gentlemen, was held at the Irish Office, London, on the 15th instant; whether, seeing that every one of the gentlemen present is ordinarily resident in Ireland, he will say for what reason or to suit whose convenience 782 was this meeting held in London; and what is the extra cost involved thereby.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) It has been the Board's practice for many years to hold in London the meeting at which their annual estimates are discussed and prepared, the object being that the Chief Secretary may be able to preside without interruption to his Parliamentary duties. I was unavoidably prevented from attending the recent meeting. The extra cost involved was about £50.