§ MR. GINNELLTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state the amount of seed rate uncollected within the last five years in the union of Castlerea, County Roscommon; how much of this uncollected seed rate was lodged by the county council rate collectors with a 383 view to being paid their full poundage under their warrants; and on what grounds have the Local Government Board refused to permit the refund to these collectors of this uncollected seed rate while sanctioning a refund to the uncollected ordinary rate.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The amount of seed rate uncollected in Castlerea Union for the year ended 31st March,1907, was £47 10s. 5d., the amount for the year ended 31st March last was £112 17s. 1d. There was no seed rate for the previous three years. The collectors lodged the entire amount of their warrants in each of the years named. The Local Government Board have sanctioned refunds to collectors in respect of poor rate legally irrecoverable by reason of vacancies or insolvencies, but, in the absence of satisfactory evidence that the seed rate is in any particular instance irrecoverable by legal process, they are not prepared to authorise a refund in respect of it.