§ MR. PINKERTON (Galway)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, If he is aware that several meetings of ratepayers or the Lough Corrib (County Galway) drainage districts have been held, to protest against the neglect of the Drainage Trustees, in allowing the main drains to become silted up, thereby causing serious injury to the property of occupiers and owners of land by frequent flooding; if, at the Land Commission Court held in Galway, evidence was given by 37 tenants to the effect that for several years their property, including crops and live stock, had been destroyed, and that, in consequence, they had been reduced to poverty; if he is aware that Memorials have been forwarded from those meetings of ratepayers to the Lord Lieutenant, asking him to urge upon the Commissioners of Public Works the necessity of sending a properly qualified engineer down to examine and report; if the Commissioners, when so requested, refused to do so unless they first received a deposit of £30, which sum they promised to refund if the Commissioners carried out the work; and what steps, if any, he 508 intends to take in order that these poor people may obtain relief?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.), in reply, said, that the facts were as stated in the Question. The Memorialists stated themselves to be ratepayers, lessees, and occupiers under the 5th section of the Drainage Maintenance Act. The Commissioners of Public Works, after receiving a Memorial, may appoint an engineer to inspect and report on the state of the works, and furnish estimates and specifications. By the 9th section they may require the applicants to pay, or secure themselves in, a sum sufficient to defray preliminary expenses. When the Report of the engineer was received the Board called upon the Trustees to show cause why the Board should not proceed with the works; and if they failed to show cause, the Board proceeded to carry out the works, and the sum lodged for preliminary expenses was refunded to the persons who lodged it, as the preliminary expenses become part of the cost of the work, which, on the completion of the work, becomes a charge on the district. The Board hoped to be able to carry out the inspection in this case for £20; and they informed the Memorialists that they could not undertake an inspection unless the amount was lodged, for without a lodgment no funds were available for the purpose of making an inspection.