§ MR. O'KELLY (Mayo, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state the grounds on which the Local Government Board refused to sanction the acceptance by several Poor Law Boards in the West of Ireland of the tenders for the supply of surgical appliances of Messrs. Adamson and Co., Ballina, seeing that this firm had already been in the past contractors for similar goods to several of these unions, 936 and carried out their contracts in every case with satisfaction; and if he will state why, having excluded Messrs. Adamson's tenders in several western unions, the Local Government Board has sanctioned their tender in the Ballina Union.
§ MR. WALTER LONGThe Board refused, in the first instance, to recognise this firm as qualified to contract for a number of unions because it did not comply with the requirements of the regulations. The firm subsequently undertook to comply with the regulations, and the Board have allowed it to contract for a proportion of the unions referred to, including Ballina. The Board were unable, however, to allow the firm to contract for the remaining unions for which it tendered, as they were satisfied it could not adequately perform the contracts.