§ 24. Mr. GINNELLasked what are the valuing qualifications of Mr. Ingoldsby, who certified that the loss alleged to have been sustained by the Irish National Volunteers, of Enniscorthy, last Easter amounted to £144 10s.; whether that amount of public money has been paid to them; whether the alleged loss included twenty-nine unusable Italian rifles of an obsolete pattern at £2 10s. each; whether he is aware that those rifles had been offered for sale in 1913–14 at the retail price of 4s. 6d., that some were sold at 4s. each, and that those given to the Enniscorthy volunteers had been purchased by the hon. Member for Waterford at the gross price of 2s. 6d. each; why Mr. Ingoldsby did not require the production of the receipt for that money as evidence of value; whether this will be required now; and who will be made responsible for the public money wasted in this manner?
§ Mr. DUKEMr. Ingoldsby is an insurance official of twenty-five years' standing, and has long experience of claims arising under policies of insurance. The rifles and bayonets, the property of the Irish National Volunteers, which were looted by the rebels at Enniscorthy, in- 1506 cluded a number of the Lee-Enfield pattern, as well as the Italian rifles referred to which were quite serviceable. The several articles looted were fully described in the claim, and Mr. Ingoldsby obtained information of the character of the weapons lost from reliable independent sources. His assessment of £144 10s., representing the total loss sustained, was based on the information obtained, and on his personal knowledge of prices. As the Italian rifles were a present from the the hon. Member for Waterford, the claimants were not in a position to furnish receipts for the cost. Mr. Ingoldsby was aware of their value. The claim was paid on the 7th November last.
§ Mr. GINNELLThen is it not a fact that £2 10s. of public money was paid for each of those rifles, which cost the hon. Member for Waterford 2s. 6d. each?
§ Mr. DUKEI have no reason to suppose the fact is so Even if the hon. and learned Member for Waterford had had them given to him, the value would have been just the same in the hands of the people from whom they were stolen.
§ Mr. GINNELLMay I ask whether the Government or some Department of Government did not purchase these rifles when offered for sale at 4s 6d. in Dublin?