HC Deb 17 July 1884 vol 290 cc1384-5
MR. BIGGAR

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Northern division of the county Down has no county surveyor residing in it; whether Mr. Henry Smyth, the county surveyor of the northern division of the county Down, resides in Newcastle, county Down; and if it be a fact that both the county surveyors reside in the southern division of the county; and did not Mr. Smyth always reside in Downpatrick up to the past few years, and is not his office at present in the county court house at Downpatrick, which is in his own division of the county; and, whether he will be obliged to reside permanently in Downpatrick as formerly, or will be called on to resign his situation?

MR. TREVELYAN

I am informed that Mr. Smyth, the Surveyor of the Northern Division of the county, lives at Newcastle, which is about two miles outside the boundary of this district. His office is at Downpatrick—10 miles distant—with which place he has direct railway communication. The present arrangement has been in existence for four years. No public inconvenience is known to have been caused, and the Grand Jury have made no objection. It is not a matter in which the Government can interfere. The Grand Jury can suspend or dismiss a County Surveyor if he neglects his business; and if any person thinks that Mr. Smyth does so, his complaint should be addressed to the Grand Jury.