§ SIR RICHARD WALLACEasked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the Government propose to take any action with respect to the drainage of Lough Neagh and the Lower Bann, having regard to the Report of the Royal Commission of 1880 on Inland Navigation, and to the deputations which recently waited on the Lord Lieutenant?
§ SIR HERVEY BRUCEasked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether he has seen the report of Mr. Barton, the eminent engineer, with regard to the drainage of Lough Neagh and the Lower Bann, and the resolution of the Grand Jury of the county of Londonderry founded on that report, passed at Spring Assizes 1883; whether he is aware that a large area of land on Lower Bann was taxed for drainage purposes for the benefit of lands on Upper Bann, which lands on Lower Bann are also taxed for navigation purposes both inland and to the sea, which taxation, to repay large expenditure, would be of much less advantage if the inland navigation were destroyed; and, whether the Government have decided upon the course they intend to pursue?
§ MR. COURTNEYIn answer to the hon. Baronets the Members for Lisburn and Coleraine, I have to say that Her Majesty's Government have been fully informed of the views held by the various districts and persons interested in the question connected with the River Bann. The second of these Questions well illustrates the conflicting character of the claims to be reconciled. The matter is one which should be settled by mutual agreement between the parties concerned; but with a view to suggesting a solution, the Government have ordered an immediate and careful survey of the Lower Bann, in the hope that it may be found practicable to alleviate the floods without destroying the navigation, to which some importance seems to be attached. 603 The numerous engineering schemes-which have been forwarded will not fail to receive their due share of consideration before a decision is arrived at.