§ MR. KENDAL O'BRIEN (Tipperary, Mid.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the police transport car at Cappawhite, county Tipperary, has been used by the local district inspector of constabulary for his own private convenience; that on the 20th and 23rd of November, 1905, and 3rd of January, 1906, one sack of flour, one sack of meal, and one sack of flour, were conveyed by the transport car from Dundrum railway station, a distance of nearly seven miles, where they were purchased for the district inspector from Sutton and Company; whether he is aware that Sutton and Company have agents at the railway stations whose books can 1246 verify such purchases; and whether, seeing that this car has also been used by the local head constable for the purpose of conveying his son to and from a technical school at the town of Tipperary, eight miles distant, that it was brought to Cappawhite a few years ago when the people were agitating for the abolition of the grazing system on the Dundrum Estate, which is now being sold to the Estates Commissioners he will give instructions to have the car removed from the locality.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Inspector-General who has inquired into this matter, informs me that the only foundation for the allegation as regards the district inspector consists in the fact that on one or two occasions, when the transport car was at Dundrum on duty, the district inspector had a small quantity of flour brought back in it for his own use. On other occasions bran and meal for the use of the transport horse has been conveyed from Dundrum by the car. It is not the case that the car has been used by the head constable for the purpose named in the Question or any other private purpose. The Inspector-General considers that the transport car is still required at Cappawhite. The Dundrum Estate has been offered for sale to the Estates Commissioners, but they have not yet decided whether they will make an offer to purchase it.