§ Mr. T. M. HEALYasked the Chief Secretary whether the Fermoy pension committee on 10th February passed an old age pension of 5s. a week to an evicted tenant named John M'Auliffe, of Ballynoe, Tallow; whether, on appeal by pension officer Hayes, Middleton, it was rejected by the Local Government Board on the ground that M'Auliffe's means exceeded £31 10s. per annum, although he only enjoys board and lodging from his son, and, in the event of deprivation thereof, £20 a year; on what basis have the Local Government Board measured the subsistence value of M'Auliffe's keep at a higher scale than that at which it was estimated by the parties themselves in an independent proceeding outside the Old Age Pensions Act, and why is subsistence of poor people in Ireland calculated at a dearer rate than that at which the Treasury allow for in the cost of the upkeep of paupers and lunatics?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe facts are as stated. Having regard to the stock and crops on the farm assigned by claimant, and on which he is maintained, the Local Government Board considered his means were in excess of £31 10s. a year. The farm in question contained 140 acres of land, of which thirty-five were tilled and carried fourteen cows, four horses, fifteen sheep, in addition to pigs and fowl. With regard to the last paragraph of the question, I would refer the hon. and learned Member to the reply given to his question on this subject on the 23rd January last.