§ 33. Mr. VINCENT KENNEDYasked whether it is the practice to withdraw pensions from old people who, finding themselves unable to work land and for the advancement of a friend or member of the family, transfer the said land to such friend or member of their family?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI am not sure that I appreciate the exact position which the hon. Member has in mind, but I shall be pleased to make inquiries as to any individual cases if he will furnish me with particulars.
§ 99. Mr. SHEEHYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether James Kiernan, Curraghtown, Curmullen, county Meath, has been refused an old age pension by the Local Government Board, though sanctioned by the local committee; whether the misleading Census of 1851 is the only ground for refusing the sanction; have the Censuses of 1851 and of 1861 been both consulted in this case; and does one bear out the other?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)James Kiernan's claim for a pension was disallowed both by the 826 local pensions sub-committee and the Local Government Board on the ground that there was no evidence of his being seventy years of age. The Census Returns of 1861 are not available; his parents' family could not be found in the 1841 Return, but in the 1851 Return it was traced, and the claimant's age was recorded as three years, which would make him sixty-four years old now. He had no evidence to show that he was any older.
§ Mr. SHEEHYIs the Census return taken as conclusive proof?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Census returns are not in any way conclusive on any point, but they are evidence and this man had no evidence at all to show he was seventy.