§ MR. GINNELL (Westmeath, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland are paid for their services; whether he will consider the advisability of superseding any Commissioner who has not attended any meeting of that body for twelve months; and whether he will give the names of all the present officers of the Commissioners, stating, with reference to each, the name of the person on whose recommendation he was appointed, date of appointment, salary then and now, and the source from which paid.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests are unpaid, and I am not aware of any foundation for the suggestion that they are negligent in their attendance. The names and length of service of the present officers of the Commissioners are given in the Government Department (Ireland) Return (H. C. Paper, No. 8, of 1907), but there is no means of ascertaining on whose recommendation they were appointed. Their salaries appear in the Civil Service Estimates.
§ MR. GINNELLTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he has noticed that the 30 last Report of the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland does not specify the year with which it deals, does not state the value of property acquired by the Commissioners in 1867, received each year since then or held now, or the exact amount dealt with in the last or any other year, does not embody any regular statement of account, and does not indicate that the local accounts have been vouched or the Commissioners' accounts audited as required by statute; whether these defects, and the refusal to give a list of the charity properties now controlled by the Commissioners, are due to disorder, confusion, and the absence of vouchers and audit; and, if not, seeing that the property in question is supposed to be worth £1,000,000, whether he will obtain and produce the information which this Report should contain but does not.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests inform me that their last Report, as may be seen by reference thereto, deals with the period from July, 1907, to July, 1908. It contains a statement of the property now held by the Commissioners and of the sums placed under their guardianship since July, 1904. Previous Reports contain similar information for similar periods. The Report further shows that the Commissioners' charity accounts for the year 1907 have been submitted for audit. The audit is now proceeding and the audited accounts will be forwarded to the clerk of the council as required by statute. In his last Report the auditor stated that the accounts had been carefully prepared and vouched in a most satisfactory manner. The return of properties under the control of the Commissioners asked for by the hon. Member in April, 1907, was not given because, as I stated at the time, the preparation of the return would have served no public purpose commensurate with the labour involved.
§ MR. GINNELLTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state the aggregate amount of property now vested in the Commissioners of Charitable Donations 31 and Bequests for Ireland and in the Commissioners of Education respectively; the approximate amount of property not vested in them but which they control; and the method by which the Commissioners satisfy themselves, in the absence of accounts vouched or audited, that the trust money is properly disbursed in each case.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) As regards the first part of the Question I would refer the hon. Member to paragraph 4 of the last Report of the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests, and to the accounts appended to the last Report of the Commissioners of Education which have been presented to Parliament. All expenditure authorised by the Commissioners of Education is subject to annual audit by an auditor appointed by the Local Government Board. The charity accounts of the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests are similarly audited, and the Commissioners, in all cases in which they have power so to do, require local administrators to furnish annual accounts which are examined in their Department.