§ MR. LONSDALETo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that in December last the Swinford Board of Guardians, in choosing a medical officer of Kiltimagh dispensary district, rejected a fully-qualified candidate solely upon the ground that he had been educated in Queen's College, Galway; whether his attention has been called to the pastoral letter issued by the Roman Catholic bishops in 1900, in which they urged boards of guardians and other representative bodies needing medical officers 1265 to elect only those who have been educated at the Roman Catholic School of Medicine in Dublin; and whether the Local Government Board will make representations with a view of preventing such preference being given in the selection of medical officers in Ireland.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce). The minutes of the proceedings of the board of guardians on the 28th November last show that the guardians rejected a candidate upon the ground stated in the Question. I have not seen the pastoral letter referred to; but, in any event, the matter is not one in which the Local Government Board can intervene, having regard to the fact that the selection of a medical officer rests with the guardians, and that the functions of the Local Government Board are limited to seeing that the person seleced is duly qualified.