HL Deb 13 July 1900 vol 85 cc1441-5
THE EARL OF ARRAN

My Lords, I beg to ask Her Majesty's Government whether they can state the reasons why the Local Government Board permitted Mr. Denis O'Connor Kelly to retain the office of secretary to the Mayo County Council after that gentleman refused to present himself for examination; and whether the Local Government Board will bear the extra expense caused by this permission being given by the Board. I should not trouble your Lordships with this question if I did not think it was one of great public importance. To explain my position I must refer to the question which I put on 26th June last to the noble Earl who represents the Irish Office in this House.* On that occasion I asked my noble friend whether, before ratifying; the appointment, the Local Government Board had taken any steps to ascertain the fitness of Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly, the late secretary to the Mayo County Council, for that post, to which he was appointed by the Council; and if not whether the expense caused by the condition of the accounts when Mr. Kelly resigned the office will be borne by the Local Government Board or the ratepayers. Owing, I have no doubt, to the omission, on my part to put the question on the Paper, although I had already given private notice of it to the Irish Office, which I thought was quite sufficient, the noble Earl said he was unable to give me very much information. But he did give-me this information. He said— I can only say that the appointment of the late secretary was not ratified by the Local Government Board; on the contrary, the Department refused to ratify it because the late secretary declined to present himself for examination. I would draw your Lordships' attention) to the last words in that reply—namely,. "the late secretary declined to present himself for examination." It was distinctly stated in the advertisement issued by the Local Government Board that no person was eligible to be appointed to the-office of secretary of a county council in Ireland (1) unless he is over twenty-one; years of age at the date of his appointment, and undertakes to devote his entire time to the duties of his office; (2) and unless he (a) is an existing secretary of a. county council, or has acted for a period of three years as a duly authorised assistant to a secretary of a county council, and satisfies the Local Government Board that he has efficiently discharged the duties of his office; or (b) shall have been examined and his qualifications certified by some person or per- *See The Parliamentary Debates [Fourth Series], Vol. lxxxiv., page 1067. sons appointed for that purpose by the Local Government Board. The advertisement stated that the Local Government Board might, if they saw fit, dispense with the examination in the case of a candidate who could produce a certificate of having passed a public examination at least equivalent in the opinion of the Board to that which the Board required to be passed by secretaries of county councils, or could show that he possessed actuarial, legal, or other special qualifications for the office. Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly had not been secretary to any other county council, he had not acted as an assistant to a secretary to a county council, and he had not passed any examination; but notwithstanding this the Mayo County Council, in the exercise of their discretion, or their indiscretion, whichever you like to call it, appointed him to the office, and it then remained for the Local Government Board to call upon him to pass the examination. Although he refused to present himself for examination the Local Government Board allowed him to retain the position, and he acted as secretary to the county council for a period of more than six months. At the end of that time the condition of things was such that the Local Government Board addressed a letter to the county council, in which, they stated that— The affairs of the Council have been allowed to lapse into a condition of almost hopeless confusion, and it will involve an expenditure of much time and labour to rectify the mistakes and supply the omissions of the past ten months. I will quote to your Lordships a short extract from a letter which appeared in The Times on the subject on 16th February last, and which shows the condition into which things had been allowed to get. It is as follows— The secretary has neglected his business shamefully, no attempt has been made to keep the office accounts, the counter ledger has not been posted since the end of last September, and the first half-year's rate, which was agreed on by the Council on19th May last, was not put in course of collection till October. No records exist in the office so show the total amounts collected on the several accounts for which the various collectors are responsible. The secretary of the council, whom the Board's letter describes as quite incompetent, and who has now resigned, is a brother of Mr. O'Connor Kelly, the chairman of the council. Now comes the question on which I desire information. I want to know why the Local Government Board allowed Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly to hold office after he had refused to submit himself to an examination, and whether the £1,000 which had to be spent in putting the books and accounts in a proper condition will be borne by the ratepayers or the Local Government Board? I wish at once to say that I desire to throw no reflection whatever on the integrity of Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly; it is purely a matter of incompetence. If the Local Government Board, when he refused to submit himself for examination, had insisted upon his resigning at once, this state of things could not possibly have happened. Therefore, it seems to me that the expense incurred was entirely due to the looseness with which the Local Government Board conducted their business. Under these circumstances it is extremely hard that the ratepayers should be made liable for this large expense.

THE EARL OF DENBIGH

My Lords, I am able to give the noble Earl a rather fuller answer than I was able to give him when he asked this question on the last occasion. The Local Government Board for Ireland report that it is not the case that they permitted Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly to retain office after he refused to present himself for examination. On the contrary, they requested the county council to proceed at once to a fresh election. As no permission was given by the Board, as alleged, there was no expense caused by the supposed permission. It appears that during the interval between his nomination by the county council and his being called upon by the Local Government Board to undergo the necesssary examination, he was temporarily employed by the council to dispose of arrears of work left by his predecessor in office. The Local Government Board sent down two clerks in connection with these arrears. The other clerks were appointed by the county council, and the expense in connection with the employment of those clerks will be borne by the ratepayers. The Local Government Board did not at any time ratify or sanction the appointment of Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly. On his being nominated by the county council the Board called upon him to undergo an examination, allowing him the usual six weeks to prepare for it. No extra expense was caused by this allowance of time. On the contrary, it was productive of some saving to the ratepayers, as the county surveyor, who acted as secretary during the interval, received an allowance of £3 3s. per week, whereas the secretary's salary would have been double. Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly refused to submit to an examination, and the Local Government Board directed the council to take stops to fill the vacancy.

THE EARL OF ARRAN

I cannot help expressing the opinion that ten months is. a long time to elapse between the election of Mr. D. O'Connor Kelly and the time at which he was compelled to resign.

THE EARL OF DENBIGH

The people primarily to blame for the condition of affairs that existed, and the expense involved, are the Mayo County Council, who ought not to have appointed an incompetent person.

THE EARL OF AREAN

But their appointment was only subject to the ratification of the Local Government Board.