Captain CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary whether he is aware that at the quarterly meeting of the Leitrim County Council, held on the 15th November, 1911, on the motion of a brother of a rate collector, the poundage fees were increased above the amount for which tenders had been received; that the county council, at the same meeting, largely increased the salaries; and that they succeeded in preventing any report of their proceedings from being published in the local papers, with the result that the ratepayers were given no opportunity of protesting; and what action the Local Government Board will take in the matter?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Leitrim County Council at their meeting referred to increased the poundage fees of some of their existing poor rate collectors by raising the rate of payment to 4d. in the £ of those collectors whose previous rate of payment was below that figure. I have no information as to the alleged relationship of the proposer of the motion, nor as to whether a report of the proceedings appeared in the local newspapers. The Board have sanctioned the increases as they are satisfied that a collector paid at a lower rate could not be expected to devote sufficient attention to his duties, and, generally speaking, the scale of payment in this county was far below that of other counties in Ireland.