HC Deb 12 May 1885 vol 298 cc355-6
MR. SEXTON

asked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether, having regard to the fact that only one of the seventeen members of the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes is representative of the interest of Ireland in the question, measures will be adopted, before the sittings in Ireland are held, to cause the appointment to the Commission of some other persons who may be regarded as directly representing that Country; whether it is expected that adequate evidence of the state of the housing of the working classes in Dublin, and also in the greater and lesser provincial towns, and in the rural districts of Ireland, can be obtained at sittings held in Dublin alone, and limited to one week; and, whether before the sittings, any public instruction will be issued by the Commission as to the reception by them of the evidence of persons who are conversant with the subject of the inquiry?

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE

Two Commissioners were added as the special representatives of Scotland and Ireland respectively, with very satisfactory results, in connection with the sittings held in Scotland, and it is not proposed to make any different arrangement for the Irish inquiry. At a meeting of the Royal Commission held in April it was resolved, on the motion of the hon. Member for Carlow (Mr. E. D. Gray) that, as a Select Committee of the House of Commons had taken full evidence last year upon the condition of agricultural labourers in Ireland, the Commission did not consider it necessary to take further evidence on this question. Four long days' sittings were found quite sufficient for the evidence from the whole of Scotland, rural as well as urban, and it is considered that a week will be enough for the urban evidence alone which it is proposed to take in Ireland. If it should prove insufficient I shall be prepared to extend my stay in Dublin, and. I daresay I could introduce a quorum of my colleagues to remain. The preliminary arrangements are being carried out according to the plan which was followed with successful results in England and in Scotland, and the Secretary is now in communication with the Corporations of Dublin and of the principal Provincial cities. If the hon. Member has himself any information to give upon the subject I shall be very glad to act upon it.

MR. SEXTON

How could a particular person desiring to give evidence ascertain the time when he could be examined?

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE

By writing to the Secretary of the Commission.