§ MR. M. BROOKSasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether he is aware that in reference to an application for a loan, under the Public Health Act, for paving works, the Local Government Board for Ireland have informed the Corporation of Dublin that, in the opinion of their law adviser, the Public Health (Ireland) Act does not empower the Board to recommend such loans, and that the Solicitor General has advised the Corporation to the like effect; whether such loans are not commonly granted to urban authorities in England under the Public Health Act (England); and, whether he will include in the Public Health (Ireland) Act Amendment Bill, now before Parliament, clauses to remove the disability 1136 under which sanitary authorities in Ireland suffer, and afford to them advantages equal to those prevailing in England?
§ MR. J. LOWTHERSir, with reference to the latter part of the Question, I see no occasion for referring this short measure—the Public Health (Ireland) Act Amendment Bill—to a Select Committee. It deals only with a very small branch of the question, and is to repair certain omissions in the general Act. I will, however, make further application to the Treasury, with whom the question properly rests, with a view to ascertain whether there is any objection to extending the particular provisions referred to in the English Act to Ireland.