§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)asked the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the attention of the Government has been directed to the pestilential condition of a portion of the town of Portarlington and the impossibility of adequately draining the town, owing to the fact that the bed of the River Barrow, which flows through it, is higher than the level of the drains; and, whether the Treasury will direct some works to be undertaken, in the present favourable season, to guard against a possible outbreak of disease in the town?
§ THE SECRETARY (Mr. JACKSON) (Leeds, N.)The Royal Commission on Irish Public Works paid special attention to this point in connection with the general question of the drainage of the River Barrow; and the works recommended by them would, if carried out, have the effect of lowering the bed of the river at Portarlington, so as to afford a proper fall for the drainage of the town. But, even if it were practicable to begin these works this year without any legal powers, it would not be physically possible to produce any satisfactory result at Portarlington until the work lower down the river had been carried out.