HC Deb 28 July 1887 vol 318 cc368-9
MR. W. J. CORBET (Wicklow, E.)

asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as President of the Local Government Board, If his attention has been drawn to a Return just laid upon the Table, showing the working of the Labourors Acts (Ireland); whether he has observed that the total number of cottages applied for to the 31st March last is 18,218, the total number erected being 1,633, the cost of erection £153,240 19s.,5d., and the cost of preliminary expenses £55,026 18s.6d.. including £3,020 2s. for shorthand writers, £3,195 12s. costs of solicitors and counsel incurred by Local Government Board, expenses of Medical Reports £3,906 10s. 2d., solicitors' expenses £11,135 1s. 7d., expenses of defending appeals against cottages authorized £l,754 11s., besides an item of £20,138 16s. 11d. under the head of "other expenses;" whether he has observed that in 55 out of the 93 unions included in the Return, no cottages have been built, and if it is a fact, as shown in the Return, that a sum of £13,421 11s. 2d. has been spent in these 55 unions without anything to show for it; whether, looking to the number of headings under which the expenses are given in detail, he can say what the £20,138 16s. 11d., given as other "expenses," was for; and, whether he will consent to the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into all the circumstances connected with the working of these Acts?

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY (Colonel KING-HARMAN) (Kent, Isle of Thanet)

(who replied) said, the figures were substantially correct. A comparison could not well be drawn from the preliminary expenses and the number of cottages actually erected, as most of these were for schemes as well as the cottages applied for. With regard to the 3rd paragraph, it related to schemes put forward and not subsequently carried out. The amount of £20,138 16s. 11d. was for expenses, including the cost of printing notices, maps, and plans, payments to clerks and Returning Officers, and such other incidental expenses not expressly mentioned. The Government had now under consideration the question of appointing a Committee to look into the whole working of these Acts.