§ MR. MCKILLOPTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the petty sessions clerk for the districts of Holy wood, Bangor, and Newtownbreda returned any stamps in excess of the proper amount required in any of the years previous to 1906, or is it to be taken that in those years all licences were sufficiently stamped; will he state on what evidence the Registrar of Petty Sessions Clerks accepts the return of the petty sessions clerk of licences issued by him as being correct; and what steps the Registrar takes to check the truth of the return, to see that it accurately sets out all the licences, with the number of dogs on each licence, should the Registrar decide to make such a cheek.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Registrar of Petty Sessions Clerks informs me that the answer to the first part of the Question is in the negative. The Registrar personally inspected the register of dog licences for the district mentioned, and satisfied himself of its correctness. A list of the dog licences issued is sent to the local police
† See (4) Debates, clix., 1118–9.935 who also inspect the register. If the number of dogs included in a licence should not agree with the number shown in the register the clerk would be at fault, but no such complaint has at any time been made against the clerk in question. The Registrar points out that the clerk could not possibly benefit in any way by the accidental omission to place the proper number of stamps on a licence, because he has to account for the number of dogs licensed according to the register, and not according to the number of stamps issued.