§ Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Chief Secretary if he will state the free quota of police to which the county of Longford is entitled; whether he is aware that the extra police of 24 men at present quartered 389W there are drawn from other counties, and therefore are no extra charge whatever on the Imperial Exchequer; and whether he will explain why the county Longford is charged a sum of £750 for 1908 in respect of men who otherwise would have to be paid for elsewhere by the Crown?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe free quota of police for the county of Longford is 120 sergeants and constables. The extra men now in the county were specially appointed thereto, under Section 13 of the Constabulary (Ireland) Act, 1836, and do not belong to other counties. Of the charge of £750 for 1908, the principal part, about £675, was in respect of extra men appointed to the county under proclamation who would not otherwise have been members of the force, the balance being charged under Statute in respect of men temporarily drafted into the county from other counties. As I mentioned in my answer to a question asked by the hon. Member for North Galway on the 19th November last, the charge on the counties in such cases is often very much less than the expenses actually incurred by the State in transferring the men.