§ Mr. VINCENT KENNEDY (Cavan. W.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that the directors of the Cavan and Leitrim Light Railway Company have refused to allow Mr. John Prior, of Bawnboy, to audit the company's accounts, although he was appointed their auditor on the 15th October, 1906; will he say when were the company's accounts last audited, and by whom; how was his appointment made; and will the Local Government Board take immediate action if there has been serious irregularity?
§ (Answered by Mr. Bryce.) I understand that the directors of the Cavan and Leitrim Light Railway Company have informed the Bawnboy Rural District Council that, owing to the informality in the constitution of the joint committee appointed under Article 3 of the Local Government Board's Adjustment Order of the 11th December, 1902, the company would not act on the resolution adopted by the council on the 15th October, 1906, appointing Mr. Prior to audit the company's accounts. I am informed that in March last the company's accounts were audited by the late Mr. M'Govern, who was duly appointed auditor by the joint committee and acted in that capacity till his death. No properly constituted joint committee under the Adjustment Order mentioned is at present in existence, owing to the fact that the rural district councils of Cavan and Bawnboy and the urban district council of Belturbet did not, at their first quarterly meetings held after the 1st January, 1906, elect representatives to serve on the committee. On 15th November the Local Government Board drew the special attention of the district councils concerned to their duties under the Order, and requested that care might be taken by the councils that the appointment of members to serve on the joint committee is duly made by them at their first quarterly meeting held after 1st January, 1907.