§ MR. POWER (Waterford, E.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland for what reason the Local Government Board of Ireland refused to sanction the action of the Kilmacthomas Board of Guardians in giving the contract for the supply or medicine to the union to Messrs Boileau and Boyd, of Dublin, a well-known firm; is he aware that Messrs. Boileau and Boyd's tender was only one and a quarter per cent, higher than the tender of Messrs. Sumner, of Liverpool; and that the Local Government Board sanctioned the action of the Dungarvan Board of Guardians, who gave the contract for the supply of medicines to Messrs. Boileau and Boyd, though in the case of Dungarvan the tender of Messrs. Boileau and Boyd was one and a quarter per cent, higher than the tender of Messrs. Sumner.
(Answerer by Mr. Bryce.) The Board of Guardians of Kilmacthomas Union advanced no reason for their proposal to accept the higher tender, and upon their attention being called by the Local Government Board to their regulation on the subject the guardians decided to accept the lower tender. The Dungarvan Board of Guardians advanced good reasons for not accepting the lower tender, and the Local Government Board accordingly assented to their application that they might accept the higher tender.