§ MR. ARKWRIGHT (Hereford)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a memorial forwarded to the Local Government Board by forty-one ratepayers in the Lismakeery electoral division, charging the Rathkeale District Council with extravagance and corruption, and inviting the Local Government Board to dissolve the said district council, and to substitute paid guardians for that body; whether the sworn testimony upon which these charges are based has received attention; and what reply has been sent by the Local Government Board.
§ (Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Local Government Board have received the memorial referred to, and, in accordance with their usual practice, have, as a preliminary measure, forwarded it to the rural district council for their observations. The Board have not yet received a reply from the council, but upon receiving it will consider what action should be taken. The Board, However, have no power to dissolve a rural district council as suggested by the memorialists. The second part of the Question appears to refer to an inquiry which was recently held as to the manner in which the council's engineer has discharged his duties under the council's last scheme. At this inquiry some general evidence was given regarding the complicity of councillors in the contracts for the scheme. This matter is also receiving consideration.