SIR UGHTRED KAY-SHUTTLE-WORTHasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether he has observed that the Committee, appointed by the Treasury to inquire into the Board of Works (Ireland), account for the absence of results in Ireland from "The Artizans' Dwellings Act, 1875," by saying (Report, p. xi.), that it
has not as yet been long enough in operation to admit of advantage being taken of its provisions to any appreciable extent;whether, considering that a recent Parliamentary Return (No. 206) shows that much advantage has already been taken of the same Act in England, he can suggest other reasons than that given by the Committee for its want of effect in Ireland; and, whether he proposes to take any steps to encourage or facilitate a more energetic use of this and other Statutes for the improvement of working people's dwellings in Ireland?
§ MR. J. LOWTHERSir, I am not aware what the Committee intended to convey by the paragraph in their Report to which reference is made; but I fancy the hon. Baronet must have placed a construction upon it which it was not calculated to bear, although I confess that I drew a similar inference myself until I ascertained how the case stood. The real facts, however, are that there are in Ireland five towns having a population of upwards of 25,000, within which limit the Act is confined. In England there are 71, and in Scotland six towns, to which the Act extends. The Report, perhaps, rather leads one to imagine that the Act has been taken less advantage of proportionately in Ireland than in other parts of the Kingdom; whereas the fact is, that out of the five towns in Ireland, three have availed themselves of the Act—namely, Dublin, where upwards of £36,000; Belfast, where £11,000 odd; and Cork, where upwards of £51,000 has been appropriated under the provisions of the Act; whereas in England only nine towns out of the 71, and in Scotland only one out of the six, have taken advantage of it. The House will, therefore, see that Ireland has proportionately availed itself of the Act to a far larger 1335 extent than other portions of the United Kingdom.
MR. ASSHETON CROSSI think the time has now come when inquiry should be specially made in reference to the towns in England where an official Report has been made and no action taken upon it, why the matter has not been attended to.