obtainable is only £10 a year, no matter on several occasions officially informed how highly classed such teachers may that it is not possible to obtain the be; and, if so, whether the Government information they require. propose to deal with the matter in the present session.

MR. RUNCIMAN: An Irish male teacher cannot retire on pension until he has reached the age of fifty-five, unless he can satisfy the Commissioners of National Education that he has become permanently incapacitated for further service, in which case his disable ment pension would depend on his age and the amount of his contributions to the Pension Fund, accumulated at compound interest these contributions, etc., being repayable to him at the same time. The minimum disablement pension for a male teacher of the first division of the first class, aged fortyseven, is £8 18s. 8d., with a sum of £48 15s. repayable as premiums, etc. It is impossible to state what the maximum pension would be. The Answer to the second part of the Question is in the negative.

County Westmeath Valuation. SIR WALTER NUGENT (Westmeath, S.): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, with reference to the correspondence between the Westmeath County Council and the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, if he will state how the sum of £170 a year applied for in respect of the cost of the annual revision of the valuation for the County Westmeath was arrived at; and if he will furnish the Westmeath County Council with any other information they may require in order to ascertain if the charge is, or is not, excessive for the work required to be done.

Embossed Stamps in Ireland. MR. CLANCY: I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether a person or firm in Dublin or elsewhere in Ireland desiring to have stamp, embossed by the Inland Revenue authorities on envelopes, wrappers, and other papers is obliged to get this operation performed in London, with the result that such persons or firms have to pay carriage to and from Ireland on the material to be embossed, or to buy the material in London and so deprive Irish manufacturers and workmen of work which they would otherwise be paid for doing; and, if so, whether an arrangement could be made by which the stamping could be done in Dublin.

MR. RUNCIMAN: There are no facilities for stamping envelopes, wrappers, etc., at the Dublin and Edinburgh Stamp Offices, or elsewhere than at Somerset House; and under existing arrangements all material which it is desired to have embossed with postage stamps has to be sent, whether from Ireland or elsewhere, to and from London, and at the expense of the public for carriage. Without in any way pledging myself to any change, I will caus inquiry to be made into the general question of embossing postage duties.

MR. CLANCY: Would it not be possible to arrange to have the stamping done both in Dublin and Edinburgh?

MR. RUNCIMAN: That is one of the points we are considering.

MR. RUNCIMAN: The annual sum Irish Land Purchase Agreement. payable by the various counties of MR. FFRENCH (Wexford, S.): I beg Ireland in respect of annual revision to ask the Se retary to the Treasury is fixed by the Valuation (Ireland) Act whether he is aware that there is any Amendment Act, 1874, subject to neces- case on record where an agreement sary adjustment under the Local Govern arrived at between landlord and tenant, ment (Adaptation of Irish Enactments) and sanctioned by the Estates ComOrder in Council, 1899. The Commissioners, has fallen through; whether missioner of Valuation informs me that the position of the tenant-purchaser as he has no information as to how the a borrower is much safer than under the amount was determined. As regards the last part of the hon. Baronet's

old title; and can he explain why the Board of Works hesitate to advance

etc., in cases where the tenant-right and freehold would be practically security for the amount asked for.

at once to force the joint committee to provide some reasonable accommodation at this station for the travelling public.

MR. KEARLEY: The Board of Trade are in communication with the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee in this matter, and will inform the hon. Member of the result.

The Law Courts.

MR. HAROLD COX: I beg to ask

MR. RUNCIMAN: I have no information as regards the first part of the hon. Member's Question. A purchasing tenant is not an owner in fee simple until the holding has been legally vested in him by the Land Commission, and can therefore only be treated by the Board of Works as a tenant. The Board cannot regulate their practice the Prime Minister whether he is in cases of this kind by probabilities; the question of the ownership of the land is one of fact, and in the matter of the security of their loans the Board must have regard to facts. Applications for hay barns are treated in the same way as applications for loans for other purposes, and the Board inform me that they do not hesitate to make loans to purchasing tenants for these purposes provided that they satisfy the conditions referred to in my Answer to the hon. Member of the 31st ult.

General Post Office, Belfast. MR. J. DEVLIN (Belfast, W.): I beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether, in view of the distress in the building trade in Belfast at present, he will consider the advisability of making a start with the new building which is to be erected in connection with the General Post Office, Belfast.

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: The plans of the extension of the head Post Office building at Belfast are under consideration. I regret, however, to say that I cannot name any definite date for the commencement of the building.

Bruckless Railway Station, Donegal. MR. SWIFT MACNEILL: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the general defects and lack of accommodation at the Bruckless station on the Killybegs Railway, County Donegal; whether he is aware that there is no goods store, no proper passenger accommodation, no sanitary arrangements, but there is a dangerous and neglected crossing, and neither telegraphic nor telephonic communication with any where; and whether he will take steps

VOL. CLXXXVII. [FOURTH SERIES.]

aware that proposals are being made to build additional Courts over the open space adjoining the existing Law Courts; and whether, instead of further blocking up the Metropolis with Law Courts, he will promote legislation for extending the jurisdiction of County Courts, so that a large part of the legal business now brought to London may be disposed of in the towns where it arises.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. ASQUITH, Fifeshire, E.): I do not that think the question of additional accommodation at the Law'Courts, which is one of immediate and pressing importance, should be made dependent on the prospects of general law reform, and, further, it is unlikely that the particular reform suggested by my hon. friend would enable us to dispense with the new Courts required in London.

Excise Officers and Politics.

MR. COWAN (Surrey, Guildford): I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the case of Frederick Farrington, an excise officer of Guildford, who has been transferred to Glasgow by the Board of Inland Revenue, as a punishment for contravening Paragraph 1150 of the general instructions (which prohibits membership of any political association), by taking part in certain political meetings at Guildford during February last; whether he is aware that various officers of the Inland Revenue Department are members of a political association known as the Primrose League; and whether he proposes to take similar disciplinary measures against such persons, or whether he will take steps to have the regulations so amended as to enable Parliamentary electors to enter

2 B

MR. ASQUITH: I have now arrived MR. ASQUITH: I was not aware of at a decision upon the various questions it, but I will look into the matter.

MR. SYDNEY BUXTON: It had not occurred yesterday at Carlisle Pier in arrived at the office when I left.

1

from information received by telegram this morning from an official in Dublin that no delay to the mails has taken place. That may have been, however, before the information received by the hon. Member for Newry.

MR. CLANCY: I wish to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether it was by the order of the Treasury that the porter of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was arrested when he attempted to obey the orders of his captain.

MR. RUNCIMAN: I need hardly say that the Treasury knew absolutely nothing about any intention to arrest or that any arrest took place. The first intimation we had of that was the telegram which the hon. Gentleman was kind enough to show me last night.

MR. T. M. HEALY: How much is Ireland being robbed of by this sucessful manoeuvre ?

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL: The hon. Gentleman says he knows absolutely nothing of what has been occurring at Carlisle Pier may I ask who is the responsible official controlling the executive action of the police when this occurred, and what subordinate took such high-handed action?

MR. BIRRELL : I cannot answer the specific question at this moment, but I expect to have information in an hour or two.

MR. CLANCY: Is it denied or not that the Treasury authorised the steamers of the London and North Western Company to go to Carlisle Pier although at the time a Petition of Right was pending to try the question whether they had a right to go there without permission?

MR. CLANCY: I must press for an answer to my Question. The arrangement was no doubt come to several months ago, but the question is, did the Treasury know that this Petition of Right was to be filed, and whether they will not now suspend the right of the London and North Western steamers to go to the pier in view of the fact that this very question whether they have the right to go there or not is pending in the Courts?

MR. RUNCIMAN: That is not the information which I have. The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company applied for an interim injunction, and that application was refused. I am not prepared, therefore, to arrive at a different decision from that arrived at by the Courts.

MR. JOHN REDMOND (Waterford): Was not the application refused on the ground that the Judge was in a position to fix an almost immediate hearing, and that it was adjourned at the request of the Attorney-General, and, pending the decision of this case, will not the Government suspend the operation of their order whereby the very point at issue is prejudged?

MR. RUNCIMAN: I am afraid my information does not tally with that of the hon. Member. If the hon. Member wants further information he had better put down a question.

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Chairman of the London and North Western Railway Company is himself an ex-Treasury official?

MR. CLANCY: Owing to the unsatisfactory nature of the answers I have received I have to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance, viz., "the action of the Government in compelling under threats of force, the removal of the Mail Steamers from the Carlisle Pier, Kingstown, at a time when the trial of a Petition of Right is actually pending in the High Court of Justice in England to MR. T. M. HEALY: How much have try the very question of the legality of

MR. RUNCIMAN: No, Sir. The arrangement made with the London and North Western Company was made several months ago; the petition was only filed three weeks ago.