§ MR. SEXTONI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether it is a fact that the strong room of the Probate Registry Custom House, Belfast, is not fireproof; and, if so, what steps the Board of Works propose taking to have it made so, as it contains upwards of 20,000 original wills and other documents of importance; if it is true that the Board has been informed of the state of the strong room, and that nothing has been done; if it is true that the caretaker's quarters in the building, in which two children have recently died through improper ventilation, have been condemned as unfit for human habitation by a medical certificate, and if the Board of Works has been repeatedly appealed to on the subject; what steps the Board intends to adopt to make the quarters fit to reside in, or if no such steps are taken promptly will the caretaker be provided with quarters outside the building until it is made habitable; and, whether Mr. Travers, the Assistant Registrar, condemned the building in a recent Report to the Board of Works?
§ MR. JACKSONThe strong room of the Probate Registry Custom House, Belfast, is not fireproof; but arrangements have been under consideration to remedy the defect, and the necessary work will be carried out at once. Complaints were made of the insufficient light and ventilation of the caretaker's quarters in the Probate Office, and works are now being carried out with the view of improving them in these respects.