MR. BLENNERHASSETTasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, about ten years since, the Grand Jury of the county of Kerry superannuated the then county surveyor, after more than thirty years' service, with a view to dividing the county and having two surveyors; whether, in answer to the memorial to that effect sent to the Duke of Abercorn, he appointed one county surveyor about the same age as the officer who had been superannuated, and in fact not so well able to discharge the duties, as the late surveyor had made 800 out of the 1,800 miles of road in the county, and therefore had a thorough knowledge of the district; and, whether, since that time, several memorials have not been sent to the present Government asking to have the county divided which have been ignored, the result being that while the county-cess is almost the highest in Ireland, most of the roads are hardly fit to travel on?
§ Mr. TREVELYAN, in reply, said, that in 1876 the County Surveyor retired after a long service. The then Lord Lieutenant appointed another gentleman who had experience in another county. He did not know the gentleman's age; he was not a Government officer. It was true that the Grand Jury applied to have the county divided, and this application, more than once renewed, had not been complied with. The ground of the decision was that it was more to the interest of the public that the existing arrangement should continue, and that the duties of the office should be performed by one County Surveyor of experience, with an adequate staff, than by two. In the only case under his notice in which complaints were made as to the state of the roads in Kerry, there was nothing to show that the County Surveyor was in fault.