§ Mr. PATRICK O'BRIENasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Treasury has received from Mr. Doheny, solicitor, clerk of Kilkenny Borough Pension Committee, a representation, under date 2nd May, 1910, of the discourtesy shown by the Customs and Excise Department in disallowing, without any reference or inquiry to him, fees for seven claims, because the return from their local officials showed a smaller number than his; whether it is the general practice of that Department to act without inquiry on the assumption that their officials are in the right and that other parties are in error; whether the said discrepancy arose partly through the local officials unauthorisedly treating certain claims as non-investigated which Mr. Doheny had Treasury and Local Government Board authority to have dealt with before the committee as ordinary reports, and to include in his return for fees accordingly, and partly through a bonâ fide difference of interpretation of the words finally disposed of by the committee, as regards the particular quarter in which cases should be returned when an appeal is pending at the close of a quarter, respecting which matter Mr. Doheny, on 10th July, 1909, clearly indicated his practice to the local officials, so that any discrepancy should have been then and there accounted for; whether any expression of regret for the unreasonable correspondence he had been put to has been tendered to Mr. Doheny; and whether he has yet been paid the fees for the claims referred to?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEMr. Doheny's letter of the 2nd May was duly received by the Treasury and forwarded to the Commissioners of Customs and Excise for inquiry. It related to Mr. Doheny's claim for fees as clerk to the Kilkenny Borough Pension Committee for the quarter ended 31st December, 1909. Payment has already been made in respect of these fees so far as the claim of the clerk coincides with the figures furnished by the pension officer, leaving the discrepancy to which Mr. Doheny has called attention for further investigation. The matter is somewhat complicated; but every consideration2014W will be given to Mr. Doheny's representations with a view to ensuring that he shall receive the full amount of fees to which he is properly entitled.