§ Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware, 1017W with reference to the 1908 increase of pay granted to prison warders in Ireland, that this sum worked out at 4½d. per week for the men as against £50 per year for the governors; whether he is aware that there are nine small prisons in Ireland which do not require the services of any governor, the abolition of which office would be of no hurt to the service and a gain of £2,700 a year to the public funds; whether he is aware that for the last twelve months the prisons of Kilkenny, Galway, and Armagh have been without governors and the work has nevertheless been done satisfactorily; and whether, under all these circumstances, he still adheres to his decision not to receive a deputation to lay before him the full statement of the case on behalf of the prison warders of Ireland?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe revision of pay granted to ordinary prison warders in Ireland in 1908, which raised both the initial and the maximum rate, involved an immediate weekly increase to all of them varying from 9½d. in the case of those having less than eleven years' service, to 3s. 10d. for those having eighteen years or over. The reclassification of prison governors in 1909 involved an increase in the salaries of one governor by £150 per annum, of nine by amounts varying from £50 to £100, and a reduction of six by £50 on the minimum of the scale for future holders. I cannot agree that there are nine small prisons, the governorship of which would be abolished without detriment to the public service. The governors of Galway and Kilkenny are at present employed on military duty, while the governor of Armagh prison was for a short period detached for duty at another prison, but I have no ground for believing that these arrangements can necessarily be made permanent. As I stated in my reply of the 5th instant, I am continuing to give this question my careful consideration, but I still do not consider that any good purpose would be served by my receiving at the present time a deputation of the warders, of whose case I have been kept duly informed.