§ MR. KAVANAGHsaid, he wished to ask the Vice President of the Board of Trade, with reference to the Return of Wrecks on the Irish Coast for the years 1864, 1865, and 1866, lately laid upon the table of the House, which shows that out of the nineteen casualties named, eleven happened between Carnsore Point and Wicklow Head, Whether any steps have been taken towards the better lighting of that coast; whether a Commission was not appointed to consider the dangerous state of that coast; and, if so, when their Report will be laid upon the table?
§ MR. STEPHEN CAVE, in reply, said, that no Commission had been appointed, but that a joint Committee of the Board of Trade, the Trinity House, and the Dublin Ballast Board met at Liverpool last autumn to consider the subject of lighting the Irish coast from the point of Howth to the Tuscar, which included the portion mentioned in the hon. Member's Question. The result of their deliberations was a series of proposals which had since been formally accepted by the three Boards, and were now being carried out by the Ballast Board of Dublin. These works comprised a re-distribution of the three lightships already there, and the addition of two others, the improvement of the South Arklow Light, and Wicklow Head Light. There were also to be four buoys added to the thirteen already there, and the whole seventeen were to be made first-class buoys. Notices of these changes had already been published, and it was expected that the new buoys would be completed by the 15th of August, and the new lights by the 10th of October. There was no formal Report, but he proposed laying on the table papers explanatory of these arrangements.