§ Mr. O'DOWDasked the Chief Secretary whether a demand for £3,000 odd, made on the Sligo County Council in 1903 on account of extra police, was cancelled and the amount remitted by the then Chief Secretary; and, if so, whether he will consider the advisability of adopting a similar course in regard to the police tax now about to be levied on the people of Sligo county?
Mr. BI RR ELLAs stated in reply to a question on this subject by the hon. Member for Mid-Armagh on the 24th March, 1904, the claim for the cost of extra police made upon the County Council of Sligo in 1903 was in respect of a reserve force of constabulary, and when it was afterwards found that the additional men had not, as a matter of fact, been drawn from the reserve, the Government was advised that there was no legal power to recover the claim, and it was accordingly withdrawn. There are no grounds for similar action in the present case.