§ 25. Mr. PATRICK WHITEasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether a gentleman named Darley, with no official experience, has been nominated by the Irish Insurance Commissioners for the post of chief inspector, although an Inter-Departmental Committee recently recommended that the chief inspector should be selected from amongst those already in the service of a public department; if, in response to a request from the Irish Insurance Commissioners, names of candidates suitable to fill the appointment were furnished to them by the heads of the various public departments applied to; whether he is aware that the qualifications of some of these gentlemen have been declared by some of the Irish Commissioners to be in every way equal, if not superior, to those of the gentlemen nominated; whether, before Treasury sanction is given to the nomination now made, he will invite the Commissioners to state their reason for acting in disregard of the report of the Inter-Departmental Committee by nominating a gentleman with no organising experience; whether he will state the nature of the qualifications possessed by Mr. Darley; and if there was a full attendance of the Commissioners when he was nominated or barely a quorum; and (28) whether, at the meeting of the Irish Insurance Commissioners, when Mr. Darley was nominated for the position of chief inspector, an actual majority of those present voted in his favour; and, if so, whether they constituted a majority of the Commissioners, or, if not, whether the matter will be reconsidered before formal sanction is given to his appointment?
§ Mr. MASTERMANMr. Darley was appointed to the post of chief inspector by the unanimous decision of the Irish Commissioners. They invited applications from public departments, and, with the applications received in response before them, decided upon his appointment. I understand that he possesses high academic and professional qualifications. He has had considerable organising experience, has taken a large part in the man- 3176 agement of friendly societies, and was the founder of one of them.