§ MR. T. D. SULLIVANasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether, at the Local Government Board inquiry into the schemes under the Labourers' Act, prepared by the Sanitary Authority of the Mullingar Union, some persons holding ordinary farms on which houses were proposed to be built, claimed exemption because they resided on those farms, and that therefore their lauds were "home farms" within the meaning of the Act; whether those farms were exempted by the Local Government Board; whether the Secretary of the Local Government Board subsequently wrote, admitting the correctness of the definition of the term "home farm," furnished by the Solicitor of the Sanitary Authority; and, whether, since the effect of the decision of the Local Government Board would be to prevent sanitary authorities obtaining sites on any farm on which the tenant resided, the Government will provide a mode of appeal in such matters from the decisions of the Local Government Board?
§ MR. TREVELYANIt is the fact that in four cases exemption was claimed on the ground that the farms on which it was proposed to build were not ordinary agricultural farms, but "home farms" within the meaning of the Act. The Inspector who held the inquiry was satisfied as to the evidence on this point, and the Local Government Board, having consulted their legal adviser, allowed the exemption. These exemptions were not on the ground of mere residence, and the effect of the decision would not be to prevent sanitary authorities obtaining sites on any farm on which the tenant resided, if the conditions as to the place being a "home farm" were not fulfilled. This would be a question of evidence in each case. In the Mullingar Union the decision has affected only nine or ten proposed houses out of a total of 128.