§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether statutory authority has been conferred on the Irish Local Government Board to prescribe qualifications and disqualifications for poor rate collectors in Irish counties.
§ THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (MR. CHERRY, Liverpool, Exchange): The 83rd section of the Local Governmment Act, 1898, provides that the Local Government Board shall have the same power as regards collectors of the poor rate appointed by the county council, and their accounts as they would have if these collectors had continued to be officers of the guardians. The question whether this section authorises them to prescribe qualifications and disqualifications of candidates for the office of collector is one of law which, so far as I am aware, has never been decided by any Court, and upon which it would not be in accordance with the usual practice for me to express an opinion in replying to a Question in this House.