§ MR. DUFFYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland is he aware that the Local Government Board have put into operation the Public Bodies Order for 1904, in the county of Galway, and that, under this Order, poor rate collectors had to enter into new bonds; whether the new bonds compelled them to lodge the full amount of their warrants, whether collectable or otherwise, at the end of each financial year; and whether he will instruct the Local Government Board not to carry forward at present irrecoverable arrears into the new warrants in cases where the collector is prepared to make an affidavit that those arrears are irrecoverable.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe facts are substantially as stated in the Question. The Public Bodies Order, however, provides that when the collections of rates have been closed the lists of arrears are to be submitted to the county council for their consideration, and subsequently to the Local Government Board; and any arrears which are declared to be irrecoverable are to be refunded to the collectors. The present system has been found to work satisfactorily, and does not impose my undue hardship on the collectors. When any exceptional circumstances exist in any collection district, the Board always give the case full consideration.