§ MR. W. J. CORBETasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, If he has received the special report called for on the subject of Arklow Breakwater, the foundations of which have given way, and whether he can state its purport; whether it is the fact that the grant of £15,000 and loan of £20,000 barely cover the contract and purchase-money paid to the Wicklow Copper Mining Company for their interests in the harbour; whether he can now give any estimate of the probable cost for extra work consequent on the failure; whether the ratepayers who guaranteed repayment of the loan, and who, through their representatives, condemned the plans of the Board of Works from the first, can now be held responsible or be 214 called on to pay anything outside the amount guaranteed; and, whether the Government will fulfil their part by completing the harbour works in a satisfactory manner without further cost to the ratepayers?
§ MR. HIBBERTThe Chairman of the Board of Works visited Arklow on Saturday. His Report will reach me to-morrow, and I will communicate the result to the hon. Member. In the meanwhile, I may say that the greater part of the work done is quite uninjured, and that there is every reason to hope that no excess will arise on the total amount sanctioned, there being a margin of over £3,000 between that sum and the contract price. This being so, it is unnecessary to contemplate the contingency of an excess.