§ Mr. SWIFT MacNEILLasked the Prime Minister whether there is any and, if so, what distinction between the status of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the rights and duties appertaining to the office of Irish Viceroy at the time of Lord Wimborne's resignation of the office in May last and his reappointment thereto announced on the 7th instant; and whether any and, if so, what steps have been taken to prevent the friction likely to arise between a Lord Lieutenant, a Chief Secretary, and an Under-Secretary by reason of the lack of a distinct and authoritative definition of their relations to each other in Irish affairs, as explained by Lord Wimborne in his evidence before he Irish Rebellion Inquiry Commission and in a speech on the 11th ultimo, complaining that the Chief Secretary and the Under-Secretary had absorbed the powers of the Lord Lieutenant, who had no independent information and no executive machinery for assisting his views should they conflict with those of his colleagues?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI think my hon. and learned Friend's question is covered by the answer I gave yesterday on this subject to the hon. Member for the Harbour Division of Dublin. I trust and believe that the new arrangement will remove the difficulties to which my hon. and learned Friend refers.