§ Mr. A. DAVIES (Clitheroe)asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether one of the conditions of service under which the officers at Maryborough Convict Prison accepted service at this prison was that they would receive the £10 allowance which has been withdrawn; whether the circular issued by the General Prisons Board on 9th December, 1916, particularly ratifies the payment of this allowance; and whether he is aware that many officers at present at Maryborough have done their whole service at this prison and have been relying on the word of the Government to pay this allowance, which is paid in all convict prisons excepting those in Ireland?
§ Mr. HENRYPrison officers in Ireland are appointed for general service, and no option of accepting service at particular prisons exists, or has existed. The withdrawal of the allowance at Maryborough Prison was one of the conditions on which new scales of pay were sanctioned in1482W April, 1919. The special allowance was continued in England owing to the remote situation of the convict prisons, a factor which cannot be held to apply to Mary-borough in contrast to Irish local prisons.