§ MR. LONSDALETo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether there is any official record of a proposal by the late Government to amalgamate the inspectorship of reformatory and industrial schools with one of the commissionerships of the Prisons Board when the opportunity presented itself; and if he will cause inquiry to be made whether the union of offices which the present Government decided to bring about in September 1906, was anticipated three years previously.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) There is no official record of an actual proposal by the late Government to amalgamate the offices in question, but I find that in 1903 it was put on record that the question of uniting these offices would be a proper subject for consideration when opportunity offered. I may mention that the Irish Prisons Act of 1877 provides that any member of the Prisons Board may hold the office of inspector of reformatories, and that, as a matter of fact, the two offices were held by the same person from the passing of the Act until the year 1890.