ON PETITIONS RELATING TO LIMERICK TAXATION. 73 / according to the proper mode of keeping accounts; and after that journal entry, then it is posted in the ledger. How frequently are those accounts submitted to the commissioners ?— They are always ready for their inspection at every day of their meeting, if they require them. How frequently are the abstracts printed ?— Once a year, that is to say, when the collectors close their accounts ; the Committee will find in these printed abstracts, that the dates of the publication are not exactly consistent, as to the month or day of the month; the reason is this, it is impossible to close the account of the parish until the collectors give in their accounts, because, until the collectors have ascer- tained the allowances to be made for uninhabited houses, and arrears which remain due in the parish, it is impossible to make up the accounts. Is each of those accounts, before it is printed and published, submitted to the audit of the commissioners ?— Always. What mode have you adopted for giving publicity to those accounts ?— We print perhaps two or three hundred, and send them to every man's house. Is that prescribed to you by law ?— No ; there is nothing in the Act of Parliament that requires it. Having put those accounts in circulation, do you leave the original account books open to every parishioner who chooses to inspect them ?— At all times, and they are even invited to inspect them. Have the parishioners any control over the expenditure or the assessment of the parish ?— No, the parishioners have not; it is the commissioners who make the assessment. Who appoint the commissioners?— Twenty- one commissioners were nominated in the Act of Parliament, and seven new commissioners are elected biennially. Who are they elected by?— By those inhabitants of the parish who are entitled to vote; for no person is qualified to vote who does not pay taxes to the amount of 4/. per annum. Do they ever vote ?— They do sometimes in very large numbers, sometimes as many as 180. Is there a public notice given of the holding of an election ?— There is, and the election is held in the public coffee- room of the Commercial buildings. In the expenditure, in 1807, there is this item, " Paid for the solicitor's bill of costs for the Act of Parliament, 670/. 15s. Yes, I believe there is; I believe that is the very first disbursement. Is it not provided under the Act, that the expenses of that Act should be defrayed out of the rates?— It is. And there is also, " Paid Counsellor Casey the amount of his demand for his trouble and expenses in going to London, and attending two sessions of Parliament, to promote the enactment of the parish bill, 513/. os. 3 ?"— It is right. Then there is, " Fees to lawyers on doubtful matters in the Act of Parliament, and for attorney's bill of costs for sundries, 9/. 10s. 4id.;" is that for the same Act of Parliament ?— It is; where doubtful matters arose respecting the construction of the Act. ; Those were fees to lawyers for opinions taken on the Act of Parliament ?— They were. What is the income of the parish now, according to its present assessments ? — I believe the assessment for the last year was about 3,100/. if I mistake not; somewhere thereabouts, it may be more or less. Is the whole of the parish paved ?— It is everywhere either pitch paved or powder paved; that isy so far as the rates extend, not the whole of the parish. How much of it is powder pavement? — Most of the side streets, and some portion of the other streets, are powder paved; I cannot possibly say the number of perches of it, but most of the side streets from below George's- street. Then there is but one street paved ?— There is George's- street, the quays, and Bank- place, and some other streets. Is all George's- street paved ?— It is as far as Glentworth- street and opposite the Tontine- buildings. Will you explain to the Committee what is the meaning of powder pavement? — Done with broken stones, as the high roads are done; we call it powder pavement to distinguish it from the other, which we call pitched pavement. Are you acquainted with the mode of pavement adopted in Dublin, under the authority of the paving board?— No. 617. Can