§ MR J. MURPHYTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a sum of £7 was deducted from the salary of the teacher of Meelick National school, Eyrecourt, county Galway (Roll No. 4974) for the quarter ending the 30th September, 1907, because the average fell to 9.4 owing to the weather being very wet and the roads of the district impassable with floods; whether he is aware that the manager wrote twice to the Commissioners for the balance of the salary so deducted, and was refused; and whether, in view of the fact that the average for the year was 11.1 and that the fall in the September quarter was due 224 to exceptional causes, be will see that the Commissioners pay the teacher the balance of the salary deducted; and whether he will get the rules (115, e, f,) of the Commissioners, under which this action was taken, removed or modified so that stoppages of salary will not be made when the fall in average was due to exceptional causes.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) Under the rules the deduction in question is mandatory; and it is provided by Rule 115 (f) that, in the case of schools of the class to which the Meelick National school belongs, no claim for special consideration can be entertained on account of a reduction of the average attendance due to exceptional causes. I cannot say at present whether it would be possible to have this rule modified; but I will look into the matter.