HC Deb 18 March 1886 vol 303 cc1158-60
MR. JONES-PARRY (, &c.) Carnarvon

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in reference to the second loan of £100,000, which the Local Government Board has sanc- tioned for the purpose of enabling the Corporation to repave the city of Dublin, Whether he is aware that the city of Dublin is making an application for an alteration in the terms of that loan, viz. that the work shall not be let by public competition, but that the Corporation may do it themselves, without any competition at all; and, further, that the period shall be extended for six years, to enable Mr. Parnell's quarry to be extended and make the supply, as appears from the proceedings of the Dublin Corporation as detailed in the Irish papers; whether he is aware that the Dublin Corporation are already paying Mr. Parnell 24s. per ton, when another purely Irish firm offered to supply the same stones at 22s. per ton, entirely to the satisfaction of their engineer in quality, viz. the Ballintoy Quarries, Antrim; whether he is aware that Mr. Parnell afterwards got the stone altered in shape, and apparently is now supplying stone, which can be supplied 2s. per ton less, at the same price as he got in his first tender; whether he is aware that in the county, the boroughs of which I have the honour to represent, the sett-making trade is a standing industry, and is in a very depressed condition; and, whether he is aware that they have stones enough ready to do the work in one year, and at a lower price than Mr. Parnell offers—namely, at Mr. Parnell's original size, at 23s. per ton, and for the larger size at 20s. per ton?

MR. PETER M'DONALD (Sligo, N.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the application of the Dublin Corporation to the Local Government Board requests permission to use setts of Irish manufacture and material when they can be obtained of equal workmanship and quality to the Welsh; whether he is aware that, prior to the opening of quarries in Ireland, the Welsh quarry-owners possessed a monopoly of the supply to Dublin, and that their prices charged to the Corporation during a long series of years varied from 30s. to 25s. per ton, and never came so low as 24s. until their monopoly was broken by the opening of quarries in Ireland; whether the most recent quotations by the Welsh quarry-owners to the Dublin Corporation, in response to advertisement for public tender, amounted to 27s. per ton against 24s. by Mr. Parnell; whether he is aware that the difference between the price of 22s. and 24s per ton given by the Corporation to the Ballintoy and Arklow quarries respectively is due to a difference between the specific gravities of the two stones, which makes the latter more economical for use; and, whether the only orders yet given by the Corporation on account of the new loan have been shared equally between Arklow and Ballintoy quarries?

THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle-on-Tyne)

Speaking for the Local Government Board, I have to say that their sanction to the loan of £100,000 to the Corporation of Dublin for repaving was not given with any condition as to how the work was to be carried out. It rests entirely with the Corporation to decide this, and there is nothing in the Act under which the loan was made requiring them to let such works by public competition. So far as the action of the Corporation is called in question I should not have thought it my duty to make any inquiries; but I have been voluntarily informed by the Town Clerk that tenders were invited last autumn by public advertisements, and the lowest quotations were from Ballintoy at 22s., and Arklow at 24s., which, owing to a greater specific gravity in the former stone, were reported by the City Engineer to be about equal. Three Welsh firms tendered at uniform quotations, of 27s. per ton. The supplies now required are being ordered from Arklow and Ballintoy. The Town Clerk observes that it would be unusual and unbusinesslike to take amended offers after prices were disclosed, even if the firms in Wales were now ready to make them as suggested in the Question of the hon. Member for Carnarvon Boroughs.