AMALGAMATED POST OFFICE CLERKS' seeing that the population of Ireland has largely decreased since the work PAY. MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The workhouses in Ireland were built between the years 1838 and 1851. The population of Ireland, as given in the Census Returns for the years 1831, 1841, and 1851 MR. P. O'BRIEN: I beg to ask houses were built, he will introduce into the Secretary to the Treasury, as the Local Government (Ireland) Bill a representing the Postmaster General, clause giving powers to county councils whether the maximum pay of clerks to amalgamate workhouses where they in the smaller amalgamated post consider necessary? offices is 34s. to 36s. per week, and the maximum in the larger offices is 548. to 56s. per week; whether the clerks in the smaller offices have the same duties to discharge and are they in numerous cases kept on duty from 12 to 15 hours per day, in opposition to the recommen- was 7,767,401, 8,175,124, and 6,551,970 dations of the Tweedmouth Committee; and whether he will call for a Return of the hours worked by these clerks with the view of bringing their hours of labour and their scale of pay under the rules regulating the treatment of clerks in the larger offices? into MR. HANBURY: The maximum pay for male sorting clerks and telegraphists ranges from 50s. to 56s. a week at the larger provincial post offices, and from 34s. to 44s. a week at the amalgamated offices. The offices are divided groups according to their size and importance, with maxima ranging from 34s. to 56s. a week. The sorting clerks and telegraphists at the smaller offices have the same kind of duty as those at the larger offices, but it is not equally onerous and important. It is not believed that any officers are kept on duty from 12 to 15 hours a day. If they are, it is a breach of the rules which would be immediately rectified if represented by the officers concerned. Such а Return as the honourable Member suggests is not necessary, as the hours of labour and the scales of pay are generally in accordance with the recommendations of Lord Tweedmouth's Committee. IRISH WORKHOUSE ACCOMMODA TION. respectively. The population of Ireland at the last census (1891) was 4,704,750. I am not prepared to introduce a clause such as suggested in the Question, but I may remind the honourable Member that clause 50, sub-section 2, of the Local Government Bill provides that the Local Government Board, on the application of a county council, and after communication with the guardians concerned, may amalgamate unions for the purpose of placing a workhouse at the disposal of the council for an auxiliary lunatic asylum. COUNTY COURT JUDGE CRAIG. MR. DALY: I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether he is aware that County Court Judge Craig has fre quently complained of the extra amount of business brought before him in the way of processes for sums of less than £2; whether he is aware that the reason of plaintiffs preferring the county court for the recovery of small debts is that, as the law stands at present in Ireland, a plaintiff who gets a decree in the petty sessions court has to employ a bailiff at any fee the bailiff demands, whereas if a decree is obtained in the county court the sheriff executes the decree according to an arranged scale of fees; and whether he will introduce a Bill this Session making it imperative on sheriffs of counties to execute decrees obtained in the petty sessions court for the same scale of charges as decrees obtained in the county court? MR. DALY (Monaghan, S.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can give the population of Ireland approximately when the workhouses were built THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IREthere, and the population at the time of LAND (Mr. ATKINSON, Londonderry, N.): taking the last census; and whether, My attention has been called to the matter referred to, and I have been in- | IRISH SHERIFFS AND SUB-SHERIFFS. formed by Judge Craig that he made no MR. J. H. CAMPBELL: I beg to ask complaint whatever as to any extra work the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieuhaving been put upon him by the prac- tenant of Ireland whether the Committee tice mentioned. I am not aware that appointed last year under the presidency the county court has been resorted to of Lord Justice Holmes, in reference to for the reasons stated in the Question, the offices of sheriff and sub-sheriff in but it has been suggested to me that Ireland, has made its Report; and, if small debts are sued for in that court the Report has been made, whether because the plaintiffs and their solicitors copies can be obtained by Members of prefer that tribunal. It is not intended this House; and whether Her Majesty's to introduce this Session any legislation on the subject. LETTER DELIVERIES NEAR DUBLIN. Government propose to take any action in reference to such Report? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The Report referred to in the Question is a confidential document, and could not be supplied to honourable Members. The Government have not been able to act on the Report, but the matter is engaging their attention. WEST UNION. MR. J. H. CAMPBELL (Dublin, St. Stephen's Green): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General, will he explain why the evening delivery of letters from LABOURERS' COTTAGES IN DROMORE provincial districts in Ireland has been discontinued in Milltown, Dundrum, Shankhill, Bray, and other places in the vicinity of Dublin, to the great inconvenience of the inhabitants of these places; and will he arrange for the restoration of the delivery? MR HANBURY: The letters from the provincial districts in Ireland which formerly arrived in Dublin in time for the evening delivery in Milltown, Dundrum, Shankhill, Bray, and other places are now received too late for that delivery, the trains by which the letters are conveyed being brought into Dublin 50 minutes later than formerly in order to give towns in the provinces the latest possible dispatch for English letters. The question of postponing the evening delivery so as again to include the Irish provincial letters has been more than once considered, but the delivery would have to be postponed to so late an hour as to become practically useless.. MR. T. M. HEALY: Is it not the fact that the so-called acceleration of the mails, so far as the Dublin district is concerned, has become simply a public nuisance? MR. HANBURY: I cannot say that. MR. P. A. M'HUGH (Leitrim, N.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, is he aware that the Local Government Board of Ireland refused to sanction the erection of a labourer's cottage in Dromore West Union for a labourer named Michael Carvey, of Carrowkilpatrick, Dromard; is he aware that Mrs. Hart, a local landowner, is now prepared to give a site; can he explain on what grounds the sanction of the Local Government Board was refused; and will he order inquiries to be made in regard to this matter, and instruct the Local Government Board to allow the cottage to be erected without undue delay, in case no serious obstacle exists? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The honourable Member has been misinformed as regards this case. The Local Government Board did not refuse to sanction the erection of the cottage in question; on the contrary, they approved of it. BELFAST POST OFFICES. MR. P. A. M'HUGH: I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, as representing the Postmaster General whether he is aware that many leading merchants in Belfast suffer grave inconvenience and loss through the want of a post office in Corporation Square; and has application been made for the establishment of a post office in Corporation Square; has the application been considered; and with what result? MR. HANBURY: There are already post offices at York Street, Queen Square, and Waring Street, Belfast, distant 465, 489, and 568 yards respectively from Corporation Square. Applications have been considered for a post office in the square, but no suitable premises have yet been obtained. KILLALOE QUARTER SESSIONS. MR. P. A. M'HUGH: I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state how many cases were entered for hearing at the Killaloe Quarter Sessions in the two years ended 31st March, 1898; how many of those cases, exclusive of those settled after entry, were disposed of by the county court judge in Killaloe, and how many were adjourned by him to Ennis; is he aware that litigants in the Killaloe Quarter Sessions district are constantly subjected to serious inconvenience and expense through the adjournment of their cases to Ennis; and can he explain on what grounds cases are being constantly adjourned from Killaloe to Ennis by the county court judge? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The number of cases referred to in the first para graph is 41. Of these, 19 were disposed of at Killaloe and three were adjourned to Ennis. In two of the adjourned cases the adjournment was. by consent of the solicitors for both parties, and in the remaining case the plaintiff's solicitor was not in attendance when the case was called. The statements in the third and fourth paragraphs appear, therefore, to have been made under a misconception of the actual facts. Mr. P. A. M'Hugh. DISTRESS AT CAHIRCIVEEN. MR. T. J. FARRELL (Kerry, S.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the resolutions passed by the priests of the Cahirciveen Deanery, as published in the Irish Daily Independent, on the 14th instant, in which it is stated that on the 9th May there were seven patients in the Cahirciveen Fever Hospital from Portmagee parish; whether he can mention the date on which the Local Government Board inspector visited the Island of Valentia, and reported that he had visited and ascertained that every destitute person on the island was relieved; whether temporary relief has been repeatedly given to hundreds of destitute families in Cahirciveen district during the past three months from the Mansion House Committee and other charitable sources; whether he can state the amount of relief these destitute families received from Government aid during the same period; is he aware that the rates in the Cahirciveen Union are at present 9s. in the £ valuation, and that the evils with to face are greatly aggravated by the which the people in this locality are face cessation of credit on the part of the shopkeepers, whose resources are almost exhausted, 38 small farmers owing to one merchant for food alone £850; and whether, under the circumstances, he will relieve the guardians from the provision for one-fourth of the money expended in which compels them to become liable relief works in this district? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: On Tuesday last the honourable Member for the St. Patrick Division of Dublin drew my attention to the statement in the first paragraph. There were four cases of Portmagee district on the 9th May, not fever in the union hospital from the seven as alleged. There were, however, on the same date three cases in the hospital from the district of Emlagh. The inspector has visited Valentia Island on several occasions during the winter and spring. On the 26th, 27th, and 28th April he was making inquiries throughout the Cahirciveen Union, and on the 27th, when at Portmagee, which is in the Valentia district, he procured all the information possible from the relieving officer and others as to the state the Peel estate in county Kerry, whether of Valentia Island, and satisfied himself he is aware that on 13th December last that the relieving officer was doing his Judge Ross issued a request to the Land duty. On the 11th instant the inspector Commission under section 40 of the Irish again visited the Island. I have no Land Act, 1896, for an inspection, with information as to the extent to which the view to a sale, of the landlord's grants from charitable funds have been interest to the tenants on the estate; distributed in the district. The guar- whether he is aware that no such inspecdians, as the honourable Member is tion has yet been made; whether he can aware, have declined to accept the finan- explain the cause of delay; and if he cial aid offered to them by the Govern- can say about what date the inspection. ment towards relieving the poor of the is likely to be made? union. The average poor rate in the union is this year 2s. 92d. in the £. The county cess amounts to 3s. 9d. In the adjoining union of Kenmare, where the average poor rate is 2s. 9d., the guardians have now resolved to adopt the labour test scheme. I have no knowledge of the number of people indebted to the shopkeepers. There is nothing in the circumstances of the Cahirciveen Union which would warrant a departure from the lines on which the scheme of relief measures has been successfully put into operation in districts more congested than Ca hirciveen, and in which the poor rates are higher. LAND APPEALS IN COUNTY KERRY. MR. FLAVIN (Kerry, N.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that great inconvenience is caused in the county of Kerry to farmers whose appeals are pending for one-and-a-half years in connection with the Head Land Commission; whether he can state when they last heard appeals in Kerry; and when will they next visit that county? MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The Land Commissioners last sat in Killarney for the hearing of appeals on the 29th June, 1897, and following days. The list then for hearing contained all cases in which appeals were received prior to May, 1897. The next Sitting of the Appeal Court for county Kerry has not as yet been arranged. PEEL ESTATE, COUNTY KERRY. MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The request for an inspection in this case was lodged in the Land Commission on the 1st April of this year, and the matter is now in the hands of the inspector, who will carry out the inspection before the end of the present month. SIERRA LEONE HUT TAX. MR. MCDERMOTT (Kilkenny, N.): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, seeing that the levying of the hut tax in the British West African Settlements has been condemned by successive Governors of Lagos, Sierra Leone, and the Gold Coast as an unsuitable method of raising taxation, generally calculated to lead to disturbances, he can state the reasons which led the Colonial Office to enforce a tax declared' to be objectionable in its incidence? THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES: The statement that a hut tax has been condemned by successive Governors of Lagos, Sierra Leone, and Gold Coast is not correct. For the reasons for which the hut tax was imposed in Sierra Leone, I would refer to the statement I made on the 10th instant. JEDDAH-MECCA ROAD. MR. MCDERMOTT: I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the insecurity of travellers between Jeddah and Mecca, and the repeated acts of brigandage committed on British subjects on the road, for which | Dr. Vesey, J.P., the medical officer of the redress cannot be obtained; and, if so, dispensary, reported to the Board that what steps, if any, have been taken to the surroundings of the well supplying protect Mohammedans who are British the dispensary pump in Magherafelt and subjects journeying on the highways in the lane from St. Swithin's Church were Arabia? in a filthy and unsanitary condition; and whether, in the interest of the public health, the Local Government Board will direct something to be done in the matter? MR. CURZON: I have examined the recent Reports of Her Majesty's Consul at Jeddah, but, while he speaks of some acts of petty robbery near Mecca, and of apprehensions entertained in consequence of the enforced isolation of Jeddah, owing to the fear of plague, there is nothing in his Reports to indicate an abnormal state of insecurity or brigandage. On the contrary, he speaks of a rumoured to urging the sanitary authority to take attack upon an Indian caravan as having the necessary steps for the preservation proved to be quite without foundation. of the public health. MR. GERALD BALFOUR: I am informed that the facts are as stated in the first paragraph. The Local Government Board have directed their medical inspector to visit the locality with a view VOLUNTEER HONORARY COLONELCIES. IRISH REGISTERS. MR. M. HEALY (Cork): I beg to MR. MCDERMOTT: I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether ask the Attorney General for Ireland he is able, in the interests of the Volun- whether, after the Local Government teer Force, to communicate to the House (Ireland) Bill is passed, the Parliamenthe steps taken by the Commander-in-tary register and local government supChief to stop the sale of honorary plement will be printed by the clerk of colonelcies of Volunteer regiments, and the peace or town clerk, or partly by to cancel the commissions of those gentlemen who have, for monetary considerations, introduced into the Volunteer Force unsuitable candidates for honorary field rank? MR. BRODRICK: In reference to the matter alluded to by the honourable Member, the commission of one honorary colonel has, as I have already stated in this House, been cancelled. The resignation of the commanding officer of a Volunteer regiment, who was the channel of communication in this case, has been accepted. The question of taking steps to prevent similar occurrences in future is now under consideration. MAGHERAFELT WATER SUPPLY. MR. MCCARTAN (Down, S.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the last meeting of the Magherafelt Board of Guardians, whether he is aware that Mr. McDermott. other; and one and partly by the whether the Bill makes any change in the functions of the clerk of the peace in connection with the preparation of the Parliamentary voters' lists and register beyond adding the local government supplement thereto? MR. ATKINSON: The Parliamentary registers, augmented, however, by the names of Peers and women duly qualified as local government electors, will be printed by the clerks of the peace as heretofore, and no change further than is involved in the addition of these names will be made in the functions of these officials. Under the Registration Act of this year, and the rules made in pursuance of it, the town clerks will only require to arrange the lists received by them from the clerks of the peace in such a manner as to be suitable for municipal elections. MR. M. HEALY: Does this answer apply to county boroughs? MR. ATKINSON: Yes, Sir. |