§ MR. LONSDALEI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the report of Mr. Drury, one of the auditors of the Local Government Board, on his audit of the accounts of the Corporation of Dublin for the year ended March, 1905; whether the auditor has surcharged the members of the corporation who voted an increase of £2,000 in the salary of the Lord Mayor; whether the borough fund is overdrawn to the extent of £10,000; and whether he proposes to take any steps in the matter.
MR. BRYCEThe Local Government Board have received Mr. Drury's report 1272 on his audit of the accounts of the Corporation of Dublin for the year ended March 31st, 1905. The answer to the second inquiry is in the negative. I am, however, informed that in consequence of a recent decision of the Court of King's Bench on the subject of the salaries of the Lord Mayor and his Secretary, the auditor felt constrained to make a surcharge amounting to £3,507 16s. 6d. against the treasurer of the City of Dublin in respect of the salaries paid during the year ended March 31st, 1905. The resolutions of the Council appointing these salaries, and of the Committee who authorised the payments in respect of them, were legal so far as they went, but the action of the Treasury in issuing the Paying Orders was technically wrong, having regard to the decision of the Court. In these circumstances the Local Government Board do not propose to enforce the surcharge. I am informed that the overdraft on the borough fund amounts at present to less than £3,000.
§ SIR EDWARD CARSON (Dublin University)Who will have to bear the cost?