§ MR. FETHERSTONHAUGH (Fermanagh, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that Dr. Carr, late medical officer of Tullyvin dispensary district, Cootehill Union, was recently compelled, owing to old age, and after long service, to resign his appointment; that he applied to the guardians for a pension, and they refused it; that on the 27th October he became a pauper inmate of the union workhouse; and does the Government propose to take any steps to improve the position of Irish Poor Law medical officers, particularly as to the right to pension after long service which is at present left entirely to the discretion of the guardians to grant or refuse.
MR. BRYCEI am informed that in July last Dr. Carr was called upon to resign, but not on account of old age or after long service. He had been appointed in 1902 when he was fifty-nine years of age, and had, therefore, served but four years. It is the fact that the guardians have refused to grant Dr. Carr a superannuation allowance, and the Local Government Board understand that he is now an inmate of the workhouse. Recommendations as to the Irish Poor Law Medical Service are made in the recently presented Report of the Irish Poor Law Commission; but, as I have already stated, that Report will require very full consideration, and I do not anticipate that I shall be in a position to make any statement upon the subject for some time to come.